Rescue of Jews by Catholics during the Holocaust
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During
the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
, the Catholic Church played a role in the rescue of hundreds of thousands of Jews from being murdered by the Nazis. Members of the Church, through lobbying of
Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis *Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinate ...
officials, provision of false documents, and the hiding of people in monasteries, convents, schools, among families and the institutions of the Vatican itself, saved hundreds of thousands of Jews. The Israeli diplomat and historian
Pinchas Lapide Pinchas Lapide (28 November 1922 – 23 October 1997) was a Jewish theologian and Israeli historian. He was an Israeli diplomat from 1951 to 1969, among other position acting as Israeli Consul to Milan, and was instrumental in gaining recognit ...
estimated the figure at between 700,000 and 860,000, although the figure is contested. The Catholic Church itself faced persecution in Hitler's Germany, and institutional German
Catholic resistance to Nazism Catholic resistance to Nazi Germany was a component of German resistance to Nazism and of Resistance during World War II. The role of the Catholic Church during the Nazi years remains a matter of much contention. From the outset of Nazi rule in ...
centered largely on defending the Church's own rights and institutions. Broader resistance tended to be fragmented and led by individual effort in Germany, but in every country under German occupation, priests played a major part in rescuing Jews. Aiding Jews met with severe penalty and many rescuers and would-be rescuers were killed including St
Maximilian Kolbe Maximilian Maria Kolbe (born Raymund Kolbe; pl, Maksymilian Maria Kolbe; 1894–1941) was a Polish Catholic priest and Conventual Franciscan friar who volunteered to die in place of a man named Franciszek Gajowniczek in the German death camp ...
,
Giuseppe Girotti Giuseppe Girotti (19 July 1905 – 1 April 1945) was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member from the Order of Preachers. He served as a biblical scholar on both the Book of Wisdom and the Book of Isaiah and served as a profess ...
and
Bernhard Lichtenberg Bernhard Lichtenberg (; 3 December 1875 – 5 November 1943) was a German Catholic priest who became known for repeatedly speaking out, after the rise of Adolf Hitler and during the Holocaust, against the persecution and deportation of the Jews ...
who were sent to the
concentration camps Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
. In the prelude to the Holocaust, Popes
Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City from ...
and
Pius XII Pius ( , ) Latin for "pious", is a masculine given name. Its feminine form is Pia. It may refer to: People Popes * Pope Pius (disambiguation) * Antipope Pius XIII (1918-2009), who led the breakaway True Catholic Church sect Given name * Pius B ...
preached against racism and war in encyclicals such as ''
Mit brennender Sorge ''Mit brennender Sorge'' ( , in English "With deep anxiety") ''On the Church and the German Reich'' is an encyclical of Pope Pius XI, issued during the Nazi Germany, Nazi era on 10 March 1937 (but bearing a date of Passion Sunday, 14 March)." ...
'' (1937) and ''
Summi Pontificatus ''Summi Pontificatus'' is an encyclical of Pope Pius XII published on 20 October 1939. The encyclical is subtitled "on the unity of human society". It was the first encyclical of Pius XII and was seen as setting "a tone" for his papacy. It c ...
'' (1939). Pius XI condemned ''
Kristallnacht () or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) paramilitary and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from ...
'' and rejected the Nazi claim of racial superiority, saying instead there was only "a single human race". His successor Pius XII employed diplomacy to aid the Jews, and directed his Church to provide discreet aid. While the overall caution of his approach has been criticised by some, his 1942 Christmas radio address denounced the murder of "hundreds of thousands" of innocent people on the basis of "nationality or race" and he intervened to attempt to block Nazi deportations of Jews in various countries. When the Nazis came for Italy's Jews, some 4715 of the 5715 Jews of Rome found shelter in 150 Church institutions, 477 in the Vatican itself and in January 1944, he opened his Palace in Castel Gandolfo, which eventually took in 12,000 Jewish and other refugees. Catholic bishops in Germany sometimes spoke out on human rights issues, but protests against anti-Jewish policies tended to be by way of private lobbying of government ministers. After Pius XII's 1943 ''
Mystici corporis Christi ''Mystici corporis Christi'' (English: 'The Mystical Body of Christ') is a papal encyclical issued by Pope Pius XII on 29 June 1943 during World War II. It is principally remembered for its statement that the Mystical Body of Christ is the Cath ...
'' encyclical (which condemned the killing of the disabled amid the ongoing Nazi euthanasia program), a joint declaration from the German bishops denounced the killing of "innocent and defenceless mentally handicapped, incurably infirm and fatally wounded, innocent hostages, and disarmed prisoners of war and criminal offenders, people of a foreign race or descent".Richard J. Evans; ''The Third Reich at War''; 2008 pp. 529–30 Resistor priests active in rescuing Jews include the martyrs Bernard Lichtenberg and
Alfred Delp Alfred Delp (, 15 September 1907 – 2 February 1945) was a German Jesuit priest and philosopher of the German Resistance. A member of the inner Kreisau Circle resistance group, he is considered a significant figure in Catholic resistan ...
, and laywomen
Gertrud Luckner Gertrud Luckner (; born 26 September 1900 in Liverpool – died 31 August 1995 in Freiburg im Breisgau) was a Christian social worker involved in the German resistance to Nazism. A member of the banned German Catholic Peace Movement, she organi ...
and
Margarete Sommer Margarete (Grete) Sommer (July 21, 1893 – June 30, 1965) was a German Catholic social worker and lay Dominican. During the Holocaust, she helped persecuted Jewish citizens, keeping many of them from deportation to death camps.< ...
used Catholic agencies to aid German Jews, under the protection of Bishops such as
Konrad von Preysing Johann Konrad Maria Augustin Felix, Graf von Preysing Lichtenegg-Moos (30 August 1880 – 21 December 1950) was a German prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. Considered a significant figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism, he served as B ...
. In Italy, the popes lobbied Mussolini against anti-Semitic policies, while Vatican diplomats, among them
Giuseppe Burzio Giuseppe Burzio (1901-1966), born Cambiano, Italy, was a Vatican diplomat and Roman Catholic Archbishop. Ordained in 1924, he enrolled in the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy Class of 1926 and was commissioned into the diplomatic service of the H ...
in Slovakia,
Filippo Bernardini Filippo Bernardini (11 November 1884 – 26 August 1954) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. He spent almost his entire career in the diplomatic service of the Holy See and was given the rank of archbishop in 1933. He was Apostolic Dele ...
in Switzerland and Giuseppe Angelo Roncalli in Turkey rescued thousands. The nuncio to Budapest,
Angelo Rotta Angelo Rotta (9 August 1872 – 1 February 1965) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. As the Apostolic Nuncio in Budapest at the end of World War II, he was involved in the rescue of the Jews of Budapest from the Nazi Holocaust. He is ...
, and Bucharest,
Andrea Cassulo Andrea Cassulo (30 November 1869 – 9 January 1952) was an archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church and a representative of the Holy See in Egypt, Canada, Romania and Turkey from 1921 to 1952. Biography He was born in Castelletto d'Orba in 1869 and ...
, have been recognised by
Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...
. The Church played an important role in the defence of Jews in Belgium, France, and the Netherlands, encouraged by the protests of leaders such as Cardinal
Jozef-Ernest van Roey Jozef-Ernest van Roey (13 January 1874 – 6 August 1961) was a Belgian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Mechelen from 1926 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1927. He was significant fig ...
, Archbishop
Jules-Géraud Saliège Jules-Géraud Saliège (24 February 1870 – 5 November 1956) was a French Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Toulouse from 1928 until his death, and was a significant figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism in F ...
, and
Johannes de Jong Johannes de Jong (September 10, 1885 – September 8, 1955) was a Dutch Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Utrecht from 1936 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1946 by Pope Pius XII. Early ...
. From his Vatican office, Monsignor
Hugh O'Flaherty Hugh O'Flaherty (28 February 1898 – 30 October 1963), was an Irish Catholic priest and senior official of the Roman Curia, and a significant figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism. During World War II, O'Flaherty was responsible for savi ...
operated an escape operation for Jews and Allied escapees. Priests and nuns of orders like the Jesuits, Franciscans and Benedictines hid children in monasteries, convents and schools.Martin Gilbert; ''The Righteous: the Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust''; Holt Paperback; New York; 2004; Preface
Margit Slachta Margit Slachta (or ''Schlachta'', September 18, 1884 – January 6, 1974) was a Hungarian nun, social activist, politician, and member of parliament of the Kingdom of Hungary. In 1920 she was the first woman to be elected to the Diet of Hungary ...
's Hungarian Social Service Sisterhood saved thousands. In Poland, the unique
Żegota Żegota (, full codename: the "Konrad Żegota Committee"Yad Vashem Shoa Resource CenterZegota/ref>) was the Polish Council to Aid Jews with the Government Delegation for Poland ( pl, Rada Pomocy Żydom przy Delegaturze Rządu RP na Kraj), an un ...
organisation also rescued thousands and Mother
Matylda Getter Matylda Getter (1870–1968) was a Polish Catholic nun, mother provincial of CSFFM (lat. ''Congregatio Sororum Franciscalium Familiae Mariae'') - Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary in Warsaw and social worker in pre-war Poland. In German ...
's Franciscan Sisters sheltered hundreds of Jewish children who escaped the
Warsaw Ghetto The Warsaw Ghetto (german: Warschauer Ghetto, officially , "Jewish Residential District in Warsaw"; pl, getto warszawskie) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the G ...
. In France, Belgium, and Italy, Catholic underground networks were particularly active and saved thousands of Jews, particularly in central Italy where groups like the
Assisi Network The Assisi Network was an underground network in Italy established by Catholic clergy to protect Jews during the Nazi Occupation. The churches, monasteries, and convents of Assisi served as a safe haven for several hundred Jews. General Histor ...
were active, and in southern France.


Inside the Third Reich

While the Catholic Church in Germany was one of the few organizations that offered organised, systematic resistance to some policies of the Third Reich; the considerable energies expended by the German church in opposing government interference in the church was not matched in public by protests against the anti-Jewish policies of regime.Ian Kershaw; The Nazi Dictatorship: Problems and Perspectives of Interpretation; 4th Edn; Oxford University Press; New York; 2000"; pp. 210–11 According to
Ian Kershaw Sir Ian Kershaw (born 29 April 1943) is an English historian whose work has chiefly focused on the social history of 20th-century Germany. He is regarded by many as one of the world's leading experts on Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, and is pa ...
, while the "detestation of Nazism was overwhelming within the Catholic Church", traditional Christian anti-Judaism was "no bulwark" against Nazi biological antisemitism.Ian Kershaw; ''The Nazi Dictatorship: Problems and Perspectives of Interpretation''; 4th Edn; Oxford University Press; New York; 2000; pp. 211–212 The Church in Germany was itself facing Nazi persecution.Theodore S. Hamerow; On the Road to the Wolf's Lair - German Resistance to Hitler; Belknap Press of Harvard University Press; 1997; ; p. 136 German bishops feared protests against the anti-Jewish policies of the regime would invite retaliation against Catholics. Such protests as were made tended to be private letters to government ministers. The relationship of the Church to Jews had a chequered history, entailing both suspicion and respect.
Geoffrey Blainey Geoffrey Norman Blainey (born 11 March 1930) is an Australian historian, academic, best selling author and commentator. He is noted for having written authoritative texts on the economic and social history of Australia, including '' The Tyranny ...
wrote, "Christianity could not escape some indirect blame for Holocaust. The Jews and Christians were rivals, sometimes enemies, for a long period of history. Furthermore, it was traditional for Christians to blame Jewish leaders for the crucifixion of Christ... At the same time, Christians showed devotion and respect. They were conscious of their debt to the Jews. Jesus and all the disciples and all the authors of the gospels were of the Jewish race. Christians viewed the Old Testament, the holy book of the synagogues, as equally a holy book for them...".Blainey, 2011, pp. 499–502 Hamerow writes that sympathy for the Jews was common among Catholics in the German Resistance, who saw both Catholics and Jews as religious minorities exposed to bigotry on the part of the majority. This sympathy led some lay and clergy resistors to speak publicly against the persecution of the Jews, as with the priest who wrote in a periodical in 1934 that it was a sacred task of the church to oppose "sinful racial pride and blind hatred of the Jews". The leadership of the Catholic Church in Germany, however, was generally hesitant to speak out specifically on behalf of the Jews.Hamerow, 1997, p. 74 Church resistance to the Holocaust in Germany was generally left to fragmented and largely individual efforts. German bishops such as
Konrad von Preysing Johann Konrad Maria Augustin Felix, Graf von Preysing Lichtenegg-Moos (30 August 1880 – 21 December 1950) was a German prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. Considered a significant figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism, he served as B ...
and Joseph Frings were notable exceptions for the energy and consistency of their criticism of the government's treatment of Jews. Cardinal
Michael von Faulhaber Michael Cardinal ''Ritter'' von Faulhaber (5 March 1869 – 12 June 1952) was a German Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Munich for 35 years, from 1917 to his death in 1952. Created Cardinal in 1921, von Faulhaber criticized the Weima ...
gained an early reputation as a critic of the Nazi movement.Encyclopædia Britannica Online: ''Michael von Faulhaber''; web Apr. 2013. Soon after the Nazi takeover, his three Advent sermons of 1933, entitled ''Judaism, Christianity, and Germany'', affirmed the Jewish origins of the Christian religion, the continuity of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, and the importance of the Christian tradition to Germany. Though Faulhaber's words were cautiously framed as a discussion of ''historical'' Judaism, his sermons denounced the Nazi extremists who were calling for the Bible to be purged of the "Jewish" Old Testament as a grave threat to Christianity: in seeking to adhere to the central tenet of Nazism, "The anti-Semitic zealots..." wrote Hamerow, were also undermining "the basis of Catholicism. Neither accommodation, nor acquiescence was possible any longer; the cardinal had to face the enemy head on." During the 1938 ''
Kristallnacht () or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) paramilitary and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from ...
'' pogrom, Faulhaber supplied a truck to rabbi of the Ohel Yaakov Synagogue, to rescue sacred objects before the building was torn down. Following mass demonstrations against Jews and Catholics, a Nazi mob attacked Faulhaber's palace, and smashed its windows.Martin Gilbert; ''Kristallnacht - Prelude to Disaster''; HarperPress; 2006; p.143 The Bishop of Munster, August von Galen, though a German conservative and nationalist, criticised Nazi racial policy in a sermon in January 1934, and in subsequent homilies spoke against Hitler's theory of the purity of German blood.Anton Gill; An Honourable Defeat; A History of the German Resistance to Hitler; Heinemann; London; 1994; p.59 When in 1933, the Nazi school superintendent of Munster issued a decree that religious instruction be combined with discussion of the "demoralising power" of the "people of Israel", Galen refused, writing that such interference in curriculum was a breach of the
Reich concordat The ''Reichskonkordat'' ("Concordat between the Holy See and the German Reich") is a treaty negotiated between the Vatican and the emergent Nazi Germany. It was signed on 20 July 1933 by Cardinal Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli, who later b ...
and that he feared children would be confused as to their "obligation to act with charity to all men" and as to the historical mission of the people of Israel.Theodore S. Hamerow; On the Road to the Wolf's Lair - German Resistance to Hitler; Belknap Press of Harvard University Press; 1997; ; p. 139 In 1941, with the Wehrmacht still marching on Moscow, Galen denounced the lawlessness of the Gestapo and the cruel program of Nazi euthanasia and went further than just defending the church by speaking of a moral danger to Germany from the regime's violations of basic human rights: "the right to life , to inviolability, and to freedom is an indispensable part of any moral social order", he said - and any government that punishes without court proceedings "undermines its own authority and respect for its sovereignty within the conscience of its citizens".Theodore S. Hamerow; On the Road to the Wolf's Lair - German Resistance to Hitler; Belknap Press of Harvard University Press; 1997; ; p. 289–90


Response to Kristallnacht and increasing brutality

On 11 November 1938, following ''
Kristallnacht () or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) paramilitary and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from ...
'', Pope Pius XI joined Western leaders in condemning the pogrom. In response, the Nazis organised mass demonstrations against Catholics and Jews in Munich, and the Bavarian Gauleiter
Adolf Wagner Adolf Wagner (1 October 1890 – 12 April 1944) was a Nazi Party official and politician who served as the Party's ''Gauleiter'' in Munich and as the powerful Interior Minister of Bavaria throughout most of the Third Reich. Early years Born in ...
declared before 5,000 protesters: "Every utterance the Pope makes in Rome is an incitement of the Jews throughout the world to agitate against Germany". A Nazi mob attacked Cardinal Faulhaber's palace, and smashed its windows. On 21 November, in an address to the world's Catholics, the Pope rejected the Nazi claim of racial superiority, and insisted instead that there was only a single human race.
Robert Ley Robert Ley (; 15 February 1890 – 25 October 1945) was a German politician and Labour Union, labour union leader during the Nazi era; Ley headed the German Labour Front from 1933 to 1945. He also held many other high positions in the Party, inc ...
, the Nazi Minister of Labour declared the following day in Vienna: "No compassion will be tolerated for the Jews. We deny the Pope's statement that there is but one human race. The Jews are parasites." Catholic leaders including Cardinal Schuster of Milan, Cardinal van Roey in Belgium and Cardinal Verdier in Paris backed the Pope's strong condemnation of Kristallnacht.Martin Gilbert; ''Kristallnacht - Prelude to Disaster''; HarperPress; 2006; p.172 At his Berlin Cathedral, Fr.
Bernhard Lichtenberg Bernhard Lichtenberg (; 3 December 1875 – 5 November 1943) was a German Catholic priest who became known for repeatedly speaking out, after the rise of Adolf Hitler and during the Holocaust, against the persecution and deportation of the Jews ...
closed each evening service with a prayer "for the Jews, and the poor prisoners in the Concentration camps." From 1934, forced sterilisation of the hereditarily diseased had commenced in Germany. Based on
eugenic Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or ...
theories, it proposed to cleanse the German nation of "unhealthy breeding stock" and was taken a step further in 1939, when the regime commenced its "euthanasia." This was the first of the regime's infamous series of mass extermination programmes, which saw the Nazis attempt to eliminate "life unworthy of life" from Europe: first the handicapped, then Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, and others deemed "subnormal". Ultimately, the Jews suffered most in numerical terms, while Gypsies suffered the greatest proportional loss. The Jews later termed the tragedy
The Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
(or ''Shoah''). Hitler's order for the T4 Euthanasia Program was dated 1 September, the day Germany invaded Poland. As word of the program spread, protest grew, until finally, Bishop August von Galen delivered his famous 1941 sermons denouncing the program as "murder." Thousands of copies of the sermons were circulated across Germany. Galen denounced the regime's violations of basic human rights: "the right to life, to inviolability, and to freedom is an indispensable part of any moral social order," he said - and any government that punishes without court proceedings "undermines its own authority and respect for its sovereignty within the conscience of its citizens." The words had profound resonance for the mass extermination programs yet to come, and forced the euthanasia program underground. Unlike the Nazi euthanasia murder of invalids, which the church led protests against, the ''
Final Solution The Final Solution (german: die Endlösung, ) or the Final Solution to the Jewish Question (german: Endlösung der Judenfrage, ) was a Nazi plan for the genocide of individuals they defined as Jews during World War II. The "Final Solution to th ...
'' liquidation of the Jews did not primarily take place on German soil, but rather in Polish territory. Awareness of the murderous campaign was therefore less widespread. Such protests as were made by the Catholic bishops in Germany regarding anti-Semitic policies of the regime, tended to be by way of private letters to government ministers. But the Church had already rejected the racial ideology. The
Nazi Concentration Camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as concen ...
had been established in 1933, as political prisons, but it was not until the invasion of Russia that the death camps opened, and techniques learned in the aborted euthanasia program were transported to the East for the racial exterminations. The process of gassing commenced in December 1941. During the pontificate of
Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
, the Catholic Church reflected on the Holocaust in '' We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah'' (1998). The document acknowledged a negative history of "long-standing sentiments of mistrust and hostility that we call
anti-Judaism Anti-Judaism is the "total or partial opposition to Judaism as a religion—and the total or partial opposition to Jews as adherents of it—by persons who accept a competing system of beliefs and practices and consider certain genuine Judai ...
" from many Christians towards Jews, but distinguished these from the racial antisemitism of the Nazis:Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews: ''We Remember: A Reflection of the Shoah''
presented 16 March 1998


Vatican diplomacy in Germany

Eugenio Pacelli Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...
(later Pope Pius XII) served as
Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City from ...
's diplomatic representative in Germany (1917–1929) and then as Vatican Secretary of State (1929–1939), during which period he delivered multiple denunciations of Nazi racial ideology. As Secretary of State, Pacelli made some 55 protests against Nazi policies, including its "ideology of race". As the newly installed Nazi Government began to instigate its program of anti-antisemitism, Pope Pius XI, through Cardinal Pacelli, who was by then serving as Vatican Secretary of State, ordered the successor Papal Nuncio in Berlin,
Cesare Orsenigo Cesare Vincenzo Orsenigo (December 13, 1873 – April 1, 1946) was Apostolic Nuncio to Germany from 1930 to 1945, during the rise of Nazi Germany and World War II. Along with the German ambassador to the Vatican, Diego von Bergen and later Ernst v ...
, to "look into whether and how it may be possible to become involved" in their aid. Orsenigo generally proved a poor instrument in this regard, concerned more with the anti-church policies of the Nazis and how these might effect German Catholics, than with taking action to help German Jews. In the assessment of historian
Michael Phayer Michael Phayer (born 1935) is an American historian and professor emeritus at Marquette University in Milwaukee and has written on 19th- and 20th-century European history and the Holocaust. Phayer received his PhD from the University of Munich i ...
, Orsenigo did intervene on behalf of the Jews, but only seldom, and apart from his attempt to halt a plan to "resettle" Jews married to Christians, when directed by the Holy See to protest against mistreatment of Jews, he did so "timidly". The 1937 papal anti-Nazi encyclical ''Mit brennender Sorge'' was part drafted by Pacelli as Vatican Secretary of State. It repudiated Nazi racial theory and the "so-called myth of race and blood". Pacelli became Pope in 1939, and told Vatican officials that he intended to reserve the all important handling of diplomacy with Germany for himself. He issued ''
Summi Pontificatus ''Summi Pontificatus'' is an encyclical of Pope Pius XII published on 20 October 1939. The encyclical is subtitled "on the unity of human society". It was the first encyclical of Pius XII and was seen as setting "a tone" for his papacy. It c ...
'' with spoke of the equality of races, and of Jew and Gentile. Following a 21 June 1943 Vatican Radio broadcast to Germany which spoke in defence of Yugoslav Jews, Pius XII instructed the papal nuncio to Germany, Cesare Orsenigo to speak directly with Hitler about the persecution of the Jews. Orsenigo later met with Hitler at Berchtesgaden, but when the subject of the Jews was raised, Hitler reportedly turned his back, and smashed a glass on the floor.


German Catholic efforts to save Jews in Germany

Mary Fulbrook Mary Jean Alexandra Fulbrook, (née Wilson; born 28 November 1951) is a British academic and historian. Since 1995, she has been Professor of German History at University College London. She is a noted researcher in a wide range of fields, incl ...
wrote that when politics encroached on the church, Catholics were prepared to resist, but that the record was otherwise patchy and uneven, and that, with notable exceptions, "it seems that, for many Germans, adherence to the Christian faith proved compatible with at least passive acquiescence in, if not active support for, the Nazi dictatorship". Cardinal Bertram of Breslau, the chairman of the German Conference of Bishops, developed a protest system which "satisfied the demands of the other bishops without annoying the regime". Firmer resistance by Catholic leaders gradually reasserted itself by the individual actions of leading churchmen like Joseph Frings,
Konrad von Preysing Johann Konrad Maria Augustin Felix, Graf von Preysing Lichtenegg-Moos (30 August 1880 – 21 December 1950) was a German prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. Considered a significant figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism, he served as B ...
, August von Galen and
Michael von Faulhaber Michael Cardinal ''Ritter'' von Faulhaber (5 March 1869 – 12 June 1952) was a German Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Munich for 35 years, from 1917 to his death in 1952. Created Cardinal in 1921, von Faulhaber criticized the Weima ...
. Among the most firm and consistent of senior Catholics to oppose the Nazis was Bishop
Konrad von Preysing Johann Konrad Maria Augustin Felix, Graf von Preysing Lichtenegg-Moos (30 August 1880 – 21 December 1950) was a German prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. Considered a significant figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism, he served as B ...
. Preysing was appointed as Bishop of Berlin in 1935. Preysing was loathed by Hitler, who said "the foulest of carrion are those who come clothed in the cloak of humility and the foulest of these Count Preysing! What a beast!". Von Preysing opposed the appeasing attitudes of Cardinal Bertram towards the Nazis and spoke out in public sermons and argued the case for firm opposition at bishops' conferences. He also worked with leading members of the resistance
Carl Goerdeler Carl Friedrich Goerdeler (; 31 July 1884 – 2 February 1945) was a monarchist Conservatism, conservative German politician, executive, economist, civil servant and German resistance to Nazism, opponent of the Nazi Germany, Nazi regime. He oppose ...
and
Helmuth James Graf von Moltke Helmuth James Graf von Moltke (11 March 1907 – 23 January 1945) was a German jurist who, as a draftee in the German Abwehr, acted to subvert German human-rights abuses of people in territories occupied by Germany during World War II. He w ...
. He was part of the five-member commission that prepared the papal encyclical ''
Mit brennender Sorge ''Mit brennender Sorge'' ( , in English "With deep anxiety") ''On the Church and the German Reich'' is an encyclical of Pope Pius XI, issued during the Nazi Germany, Nazi era on 10 March 1937 (but bearing a date of Passion Sunday, 14 March)." ...
'' anti-Nazi encyclical of March 1937.
Anton Gill Anton Gill (born in 1948) is a British writer of historical fiction and nonfiction. He won the H. H. Wingate Award for non-fiction for ''The Journey Back From Hell'', an account of the lives of survivors after their liberation from Nazi concentr ...
; An Honourable Defeat; A History of the German Resistance to Hitler; Heinemann; London; 1994; pp. 58–59
Konrad Graf von Preysing
German Resistance Memorial Centre, Index of Persons; retrieved at 4 September 2013
In 1938, he became one of the co-founders of the ''Hilfswerk beim Bischöflichen Ordinariat Berlin'' (Welfare Office of the Berlin Diocese Office). He extended care to both baptised and unbaptised Jews and protested the Nazi euthanasia programme. While Bishop von Preysing was protected from Nazi retaliation by his position, his cathedral administrator and confidant Bernard Lichtenberg, was not.Bernhard Lichtenberg
German Resistance Memorial Centre, Index of Persons; retrieved at 4 September 2013
Fr. Bernard Lichtenberg served at St. Hedwig's Cathedral from 1932, and was under the watch of the Gestapo for his courageous support of prisoners and Jews. Lichtenberg ran Bishop von Preysing of Berlin's aid unit (the ''Hilfswerke beim Bischöflichen Ordinariat Berlin'') which secretly assistance to those who were being persecuted by the regime. From the ''
Kristallnacht () or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) paramilitary and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from ...
'' pogrom of November 1938 onward, Lichtenberg closed each nightly service with a prayer for "the Jews, and the poor prisoners in the concentration camps", including "my fellow priests there".
Anton Gill Anton Gill (born in 1948) is a British writer of historical fiction and nonfiction. He won the H. H. Wingate Award for non-fiction for ''The Journey Back From Hell'', an account of the lives of survivors after their liberation from Nazi concentr ...
; An Honourable Defeat; A History of the German Resistance to Hitler; Heinemann; London; 1994; p.60
On 23 October 1942, he offered a prayer for the Jews being deported to the East, telling his congregation to extend to the Jew's the commandment of Christ to "Love thy neighbour". For preaching against Nazi propaganda and writing a letter of protest concerning Nazi euthanasia, he was arrested in 1941, sentenced to two years penal servitude, and died en route to Dachau Concentration Camp in 1943. He was subsequently honoured by
Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...
as
Righteous among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sav ...
. Among the German laity,
Gertrud Luckner Gertrud Luckner (; born 26 September 1900 in Liverpool – died 31 August 1995 in Freiburg im Breisgau) was a Christian social worker involved in the German resistance to Nazism. A member of the banned German Catholic Peace Movement, she organi ...
, was among the first to sense the genocidal inclinations of the Hitler regime and to take national action.Michael Phayer; ''The Catholic Church and the Holocaust, 1930-1965''
; Indiana University Press; p.116-117
A pacifist and member of the
German Catholics' Peace Association The German Catholics' Peace Association (Friedensbund Deutscher Katholiken) was a Catholic peace association founded in Weimar Germany in 1919 by Fr. Max Josef Metzger, a Roman Catholic priest. Metzger had served as military chaplain, in the Germa ...
, she had been supporting victims of political persecution since 1933 and from 1938 worked at the head office of the German Association of Catholic Charitable Organizations, "Caritas". Using international contacts she secured safe passage abroad for many refugees. She organized aid circles for Jews, assisted many to escape.Gertrud Luckner
German Resistance Memorial Centre, Index of Persons; retrieved at 4 September 2013
She cooperated with the priests Lichtenberg and
Alfred Delp Alfred Delp (, 15 September 1907 – 2 February 1945) was a German Jesuit priest and philosopher of the German Resistance. A member of the inner Kreisau Circle resistance group, he is considered a significant figure in Catholic resistan ...
. Following the outbreak of the war, she continued her work for the Jews through Caritas' war relief office - attempting to establish a national underground network through Caritas cells. She personally investigated the fate of the Jews being transported to the East and managed to obtain information on prisoners in concentration camps, and obtain clothing, food and money for forced labourers and prisoners of war. Caritas secured safe emigration for hundreds of converted Jews, but Luckner was unable to organise an effective national underground network. She was arrested in 1943 and only narrowly escaped death in the concentration camps.
Margarete Sommer Margarete (Grete) Sommer (July 21, 1893 – June 30, 1965) was a German Catholic social worker and lay Dominican. During the Holocaust, she helped persecuted Jewish citizens, keeping many of them from deportation to death camps.< ...
had been sacked from her welfare institute for refusing to teach the Nazi line on sterilization. In 1935, she took up a position at the Episcopal Diocesan Authority in Berlin, counselling victims of racial persecution for Caritas Emergency Relief. In 1941 she became director of the Welfare Office of the Berlin Diocesan Authority, under Bernhard Lichtenberg.Margarete Sommer
German Resistance Memorial Centre, Index of Persons; retrieved at 4 September 2013
Following Lichtenberg's arrest, Sommer reported to Bishop
Konrad von Preysing Johann Konrad Maria Augustin Felix, Graf von Preysing Lichtenegg-Moos (30 August 1880 – 21 December 1950) was a German prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. Considered a significant figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism, he served as B ...
. While working for the Welfare Office, Sommer coordinated Catholic aid for victims of racial persecution - giving spiritual comfort, food, clothing, and money. She gathered intelligence on the deportations of the Jews, and living conditions in concentration camps, as well as on SS firing squads, writing several reports on these topics from 1942, including an August 1942 report which reached Rome under the title "Report on the Exodus of the Jews".
Josef Frings Josef Richard Frings (6 February 1887 – 17 December 1978), was a German Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Cologne from 1942 to 1969. Considered a significant figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism, he was elevated to th ...
became
Archbishop of Cologne The Archbishop of Cologne is an archbishop governing the Archdiocese of Cologne of the Catholic Church in western North Rhine-Westphalia and is also a historical state in the Rhine holding the birthplace of Beethoven and northern Rhineland-Palati ...
in 1942. In his sermons, he repeatedly spoke in support of persecuted peoples and against state repression. In March 1944, Frings attacked arbitrary arrests, racial persecution and forced divorces. That autumn, he protested to the Gestapo against the deportations of Jews from Cologne and surrounds.Josef Frings
German Resistance Memorial Centre, Index of Persons; retrieved at 4 September 2013
In 1943, the German bishops had debated whether to directly confront Hitler collectively over what they knew of the murdering of Jews. Frings wrote a pastoral letter cautioning his diocese not to violate the inherent rights of others to life, even those "not of our blood" and even during war, and preached in a sermon that "no one may take the property or life of an innocent person just because he is a member of a foreign race".


The Papacy


Pius XI and the prelude to the Holocaust

In the 1930s, Pope
Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City from ...
urged Mussolini to ask Hitler to restrain the anti-Semitic actions taking place in Germany. In 1937, he issued the ''
Mit brennender Sorge ''Mit brennender Sorge'' ( , in English "With deep anxiety") ''On the Church and the German Reich'' is an encyclical of Pope Pius XI, issued during the Nazi Germany, Nazi era on 10 March 1937 (but bearing a date of Passion Sunday, 14 March)." ...
'' (german: "With burning concern") encyclical, in which he asserted the inviolability of human rights.Anton Gill; An Honourable Defeat; A History of the German Resistance to Hitler; Heinemann; London; 1994; p.58 It was written partly in response to the
Nuremberg Laws The Nuremberg Laws (german: link=no, Nürnberger Gesetze, ) were antisemitic and racist laws that were enacted in Nazi Germany on 15 September 1935, at a special meeting of the Reichstag convened during the annual Nuremberg Rally of th ...
, and condemned racial theories and the mistreatment of people based on race.William L. Shirer; The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich; Secker & Warburg; London; 1960; p234-5 It repudiated Nazi racial theory and the "so-called myth of race and blood". It denounced "Whomever exalts race, or the people, or the State ... above their standard value and divinizes them to an idolatrous level"; spoke of divine values independent of "space country and race" and a Church for "all races"; and said "None but superficial minds could stumble into concepts of a national God, of a national religion; or attempt to lock within the frontiers of a single people, within the narrow limits of a single race, God, the Creator of the universe.''Mit Brennender Sorge''
papal encyclical of
Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City from ...
The document noted on the horizon the "threatening storm clouds" of religious wars of extermination over Germany. Pius XI's Secretary of State, Cardinal Pacelli (future Pius XII), made some 55 protests against Nazi policies, including its "ideology of race".''Hitler's Pope?''
;
Martin Gilbert Sir Martin John Gilbert (25 October 1936 – 3 February 2015) was a British historian and honorary Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. He was the author of eighty-eight books, including works on Winston Churchill, the 20th century, and Jewish h ...
; The American Spectator; 18/8/06
Following the
Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...
and the extension of antisemitic laws in Germany, Jewish refugees sought sanctuary outside the Reich. In Rome, Pius XI told a group of Belgian pilgrims on 6 September 1938, "It is not possible for Christians to participate in anti-Semitism. Spiritually we are Semites." Following the November ''
Kristallnacht () or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) paramilitary and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from ...
'' of that year, Pius XI condemned the pogrom, sparking mass demonstrations against Catholics and Jews in Munich, where the Bavarian Gauleiter
Adolf Wagner Adolf Wagner (1 October 1890 – 12 April 1944) was a Nazi Party official and politician who served as the Party's ''Gauleiter'' in Munich and as the powerful Interior Minister of Bavaria throughout most of the Third Reich. Early years Born in ...
declared: "Every utterance the Pope makes in Rome is an incitement of the Jews throughout the world to agitate against Germany". The Vatican took steps to find refuge for Jews. On 21 November, in an address to the world's Catholics, Pius XI rejected the Nazi claim of racial superiority, and insisted instead that there was only a single human race.


Pius XII and the war

Pius XII succeeded Pius XI on the eve of war in 1939. He was to employ diplomacy to aid the victims of the Holocaust, and directed his Church to provide discreet aid to Jews. His encyclicals such as ''
Summi Pontificatus ''Summi Pontificatus'' is an encyclical of Pope Pius XII published on 20 October 1939. The encyclical is subtitled "on the unity of human society". It was the first encyclical of Pius XII and was seen as setting "a tone" for his papacy. It c ...
'' and ''
Mystici corporis ''Mystici corporis Christi'' (English: 'The Mystical Body of Christ') is a papal encyclical issued by Pope Pius XII on 29 June 1943 during World War II. It is principally remembered for its statement that the Mystical Body of Christ is the Cath ...
'' spoke against racism —with specific reference to Jews: "there is neither Gentile nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision".Pius XII, ''Summi Pontificatus''; 48; October 1939


Summi Pontificatus

''
Summi Pontificatus ''Summi Pontificatus'' is an encyclical of Pope Pius XII published on 20 October 1939. The encyclical is subtitled "on the unity of human society". It was the first encyclical of Pius XII and was seen as setting "a tone" for his papacy. It c ...
'' first papal encyclical followed the Nazi/Soviet invasion of Poland, and reiterated Catholic teaching against racism and anti-Semitism and affirmed the ethical principles of the " Revelation on Sinai". Pius reiterated Church teaching on the "principle of equality" - with specific reference to Jews: "there is neither Gentile nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision". The forgetting of solidarity "imposed by our common origin and by the equality of rational nature in all men" was called "pernicious error". Catholics everywhere were called upon to offer "compassion and help" to the victims of the war. The letter also decried the deaths of noncombatants. Local bishops were instructed to assist those in need. Pius went on to make a series of general condemnations of racism and genocide through the course of the war.


Pope's 1942 Christmas address

After the invasion of the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany commenced its industrialised mass murder of the Jews, around late 1941/early 1942. Pius XII employed diplomacy to aid the victims of the Holocaust, and directed his Church to provide discreet aid to Jews. At Christmas 1942, once evidence of the mass slaughter of the Jews had emerged, Pius XII voiced concern at the murder of "hundreds of thousands" of "faultless" people because of their "nationality or race" and intervened to attempt to block Nazi deportations of Jews in various countries. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, he refused to say more "fearing that public papal denunciations might provoke the Hitler regime to brutalize further those subject to Nazi terror — as it had when Dutch bishops publicly protested earlier in the year—while jeopardizing the future of the church". Regardless, the Nazi authorities were distressed by the papal intervention. The
Reich Security Main Office The Reich Security Main Office (german: Reichssicherheitshauptamt or RSHA) was an organization under Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacity as ''Chef der Deutschen Polizei'' (Chief of German Police) and ''Reichsführer-SS'', the head of the Nazi ...
, responsible for the deportation of Jews, noted:


Italy

In Italy, where the Pope's direct influence was strongest, under Mussolini, no policy of abduction of Jews had been implemented in Italy. Following the capitulation of Italy in 1943, Nazi forces invaded and occupied much of the country, and began deportations of Jews to extermination camps. Pius XII protested at diplomatic levels, while several thousand Jews found refuge in Catholic networks, institutions and homes across Italy - including in the Vatican City and Pope Pius' Summer Residence. Anti-Semitism had not been a founding principle of Italian Fascism, although Mussolini's regime moved closer to Hitler with time. On 27 June 1943,
Vatican Radio Vatican Radio ( it, Radio Vaticana; la, Statio Radiophonica Vaticana) is the official broadcasting service of Vatican City. Established in 1931 by Guglielmo Marconi, today its programs are offered in 47 languages, and are sent out on short wave, ...
is reported to have broadcast a papal injunction: "He who makes a distinction between Jews and other men is being unfaithful to God and is in conflict with God's commands". In July 1943, with the Allies advancing from the south, Mussolini was overthrown, and on 1 September, the new government agreed an armistice with the Allies. The Germans occupied much of the country, commencing an effort to deport the nation's Jews. According to Sir
Martin Gilbert Sir Martin John Gilbert (25 October 1936 – 3 February 2015) was a British historian and honorary Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. He was the author of eighty-eight books, including works on Winston Churchill, the 20th century, and Jewish h ...
, when the Nazis came to Rome in search of Jews, Pius had already "A few days earlier... personally ordered the Vatican clergy to open the sanctuaries of the Vatican City to all "non-Aryans" in need of refuge. By morning of October 16, a total of 477 Jews had been given shelter in the Vatican and its enclaves, while another 4,238 had been given sanctuary in the many monasteries and convents of in Rome. Only 1,015 of Rome's 6,730 Jews were seized that morning".
Martin Gilbert Sir Martin John Gilbert (25 October 1936 – 3 February 2015) was a British historian and honorary Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. He was the author of eighty-eight books, including works on Winston Churchill, the 20th century, and Jewish h ...
; ''The Holocaust: The Jewish Tragedy''; Collins; London; 1986; pp.622-623
The Pope had helped the Jews of Rome in September, by offering whatever amounts of gold might be needed towards the 50 kg ransom demanded by the Nazis. Upon receiving news of the roundups on the morning of 16 October, the Pope immediately instructed Cardinal Secretary of State, Cardinal Maglione, to make a protest to the German ambassador to the Vatican,
Ernst von Weizsacker Ernst is both a surname and a given name, the German, Dutch, and Scandinavian form of Ernest. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Adolf Ernst (1832–1899) German botanist known by the author abbreviation "Ernst" * Anton Ernst (1975-) ...
: "Maglione did so that morning, making it clear to the ambassador that the deportation of Jews was offensive to the Pope. In urging Weizsacker 'to try to save these innocent people,' Maglione added: 'It is sad for the Holy Father, sad beyond imagination, that here in Rome, under the very eyes of the Common Father, that so many people should suffer only because they belong to a specific race.'" Following the meeting, Weizsacker gave orders for a halt to the arrests. Pius assisted various noted rescuers. From within the Vatican, and in co-operation with Pius XII, Monsignor
Hugh O'Flaherty Hugh O'Flaherty (28 February 1898 – 30 October 1963), was an Irish Catholic priest and senior official of the Roman Curia, and a significant figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism. During World War II, O'Flaherty was responsible for savi ...
, operated an escape operation for Jews and Allied escapees. In 2012, the
Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper and online publication which is owned by Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of Mediahuis. The newspaper version often includes glossy magazines. Traditionally a broadsheet new ...
Newspaper credited him with having saved more than 6,500 people during the war.''Vatican's 'Scarlet Pimpernel' honoured''
Majella O'Sullivan Irish Independent; 12 November 2012
Pietro Palazzini Pietro Palazzini (19 May 1912 – 11 October 2000) was an Italian Cardinal, who helped to save the lives of Jewish people in World War II. He was consecrated bishop by the pope in 1962 and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1973. He has been comm ...
was an assistant vice rector in a pontifical seminary during the war, and is remembered by Israel for his efforts for Italian Jews during the war. He hid Michael Tagliacozzo on Vatican property for in 1943 and 1944, when the Nazis were rounding up Italian Jews and was recognised by Yad Vashem in 1985.
Giovanni Ferrofino Giovanni Ferrofino (24 February 1912 – 20 December 2010) was an Italian Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church. Early life and ordination Ferrofino was born in 1912 in the city of Alessandria in north-west Italy. On 22 September 1934 he was ...
is credited with saving 10,000 Jews. Acting on secret orders from
Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...
, Ferrofino obtained visas from the Portuguese Government and the
Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...
to secure their escape from Europe and sanctuary in the Americas. Pius provided funds to the Jewish refugees of Fiume saved by
Giovanni Palatucci Giovanni Palatucci (31 May 1909 – 10 February 1945) was an Italian police official who was long believed to have saved thousands of Jews in Fiume between 1939 and 1944 (current Rijeka in Croatia) from being deported to Nazi extermination camps. ...
and to other rescue operations - to the French Capuchin Pierre-Marie Benoit of Marseille and others. When Archbishop Giovanni Montini (later Pope Paul VI) was offered an award for his rescue work by Israel, he said he had only been acting on the orders of Pius XII.


Direct diplomatic interventions

Pius XII allowed the national hierarchies of the Church to assess and respond to their local situation under Nazi rule, but himself established the Vatican Information Service to provide aid to, and information about, war refugees. He gave his blessing to the establishment of safe houses inside the Vatican and in monasteries and convents across Europe and oversaw a secret operation for priests to shelter Jews by means of fake documents - with some Jews made Vatican subjects to spare them from the Nazis. On papal instructions, 4000 Jews were hidden in Italian monasteries and convents, and 2000 Hungarian Jews given fake documents identifying them as Catholics. Pius' diplomatic representatives lobbied on behalf of Jews across Europe, including in Nazi allied Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovakia,
Vichy France Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its ter ...
and elsewhere. The papal nuncios most active in the rescue of rescue of Jews included
Angelo Roncalli Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 19 ...
(the future Pope John XXIII); and
Angelo Rotta Angelo Rotta (9 August 1872 – 1 February 1965) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. As the Apostolic Nuncio in Budapest at the end of World War II, he was involved in the rescue of the Jews of Budapest from the Nazi Holocaust. He is ...
, Nuncio to Budapest, who enabled many Jews to survive and was recognised as Righteous among the Nations by Yad Vashem; and Archbishop
Andrea Cassulo Andrea Cassulo (30 November 1869 – 9 January 1952) was an archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church and a representative of the Holy See in Egypt, Canada, Romania and Turkey from 1921 to 1952. Biography He was born in Castelletto d'Orba in 1869 and ...
, Nuncio in Romania, who appealed to the Antonescu regime to stop deportations of Jews, and received the same honour from Yad Vashem. Pius protested the deportations of Slovakian Jews to the Bratislava government from 1942.
Giuseppe Burzio Giuseppe Burzio (1901-1966), born Cambiano, Italy, was a Vatican diplomat and Roman Catholic Archbishop. Ordained in 1924, he enrolled in the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy Class of 1926 and was commissioned into the diplomatic service of the H ...
, the Apostolic Delegate to Bratislava, protested the anti-Semitic and totalitarianism of the Tiso regime.''The Churches and the Deportation and Persecution of Jews in Slovakia''
by Livia Rothkirchen; Vad Yashem.
Pius made a direct intervention in Hungary to lobby for an end to Jewish deportations in 1944, and on July 4, the Hungarian leader,
Admiral Horthy Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...
, told Berlin's representative that deportations of Jews must cease, citing protests by the Vatican, the King of Sweden and the Red Cross for his decision. The pro-Nazi, anti-Semitic
Arrow Cross A cross whose arms end in arrowheads is called a "cross barby" or "cross barbée" in the traditional terminology of heraldry. In Christian use, the ends of this cross resemble the barbs of fish hooks, or fish spears. This alludes to the Ichth ...
seized power in October, and a campaign of murder of the Jews commenced. The neutral powers led a major rescue effort and Pius' representative, Angelo Rotta took the lead in establishing an "international Ghetto", around which the Swiss, Swedish, Portuguese, Spanish and Vatican legations affixed their emblems, providing shelter for some 25,000 Jews.


Vatican diplomats

Vatican neutrality through the war permitted the Holy See's network of diplomats to continue to operate throughout the occupied territories of the Nazi Empire, enabling the dissemination of intelligence back to Rome, and diplomatic interventions on behalf of the victims of the conflict. Pius' diplomatic representatives lobbied on behalf of Jews across Europe, including in Nazi allied
Vichy France Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its ter ...
, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovakia, Germany itself and elsewhere.Michael Phayer; ''The Catholic Church and the Holocaust: 1930–1965''; Indiana University Press; 2000; p85 Many
papal nuncio An apostolic nuncio ( la, nuntius apostolicus; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international org ...
s played important roles in the rescue of Jews, among them
Giuseppe Burzio Giuseppe Burzio (1901-1966), born Cambiano, Italy, was a Vatican diplomat and Roman Catholic Archbishop. Ordained in 1924, he enrolled in the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy Class of 1926 and was commissioned into the diplomatic service of the H ...
, the Vatican Chargé d'Affaires in Slovakia,
Filippo Bernardini Filippo Bernardini (11 November 1884 – 26 August 1954) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. He spent almost his entire career in the diplomatic service of the Holy See and was given the rank of archbishop in 1933. He was Apostolic Dele ...
, Nuncio to Switzerland and
Angelo Roncalli Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 19 ...
, the nuncio to Turkey.
Angelo Rotta Angelo Rotta (9 August 1872 – 1 February 1965) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. As the Apostolic Nuncio in Budapest at the end of World War II, he was involved in the rescue of the Jews of Budapest from the Nazi Holocaust. He is ...
, the wartime
Papal Nuncio An apostolic nuncio ( la, nuntius apostolicus; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international org ...
to Budapest and
Andrea Cassulo Andrea Cassulo (30 November 1869 – 9 January 1952) was an archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church and a representative of the Holy See in Egypt, Canada, Romania and Turkey from 1921 to 1952. Biography He was born in Castelletto d'Orba in 1869 and ...
, the Papal Nuncio to Bucharest have been recognised as
Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sav ...
by
Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...
, Israel's Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority. ;Vichy France With the Nazi Empire around its full extent in late 1942, the Nazis sought to extend their roundups of Jews, and resistance began to spread. In Lyon,
Cardinal Gerlier Pierre-Marie Gerlier (14 January 1880 – 17 January 1965) was a French Cardinal (Catholicism), Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archdiocese of Lyon, Archbishop of Lyon from 1937 until his death, was Primate of Gaul and was ...
had defiantly refused to hand over Jewish children being sheltered in Catholic homes, and on 9 September, it was reported in London that Vichy French authorities had ordered the arrest of all Catholic priests sheltering Jews in the unoccupied zone. Eight Jesuits were arrested for sheltering hundreds of children on Jesuit properties, and Pius XII's Secretary of State, Cardinal Maglione informed the Vichy Ambassador to the Vatican that "the conduct of the Vichy government towards Jews and foreign refugees was a gross infraction" of the Vichy government's own principles, and "irreconcilable with the religious feelings which Marshal Petain had so often invoked in his speeches". ; Croatia Germany, Italy, Bulgaria and Hungary dismembered Yugoslavia in April 1941. In regions controlled by Italy, the Italian authorities protected Jews from Nazi roundups, as occurred throughout Italian territory.
Martin Gilbert Sir Martin John Gilbert (25 October 1936 – 3 February 2015) was a British historian and honorary Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. He was the author of eighty-eight books, including works on Winston Churchill, the 20th century, and Jewish h ...
wrote that when negotiations began for the deportation of Jews from the Italian zone, General Roatta flatly refused, leading Hitler's envoy,
Siegfried Kasche Siegfried Kasche (18 June 1903 – 7 June 1947) was an ambassador of the German Reich to the Independent State of Croatia and ''Obergruppenführer'' of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA), a paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. Kasche was the proposed ru ...
, to report some of Mussolini's subordinates "apparently been influenced" by opposition in the Vatican to German anti-Semitism. Most of Croatia fell to the new
Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist It ...
, where
Ante Pavelić Ante Pavelić (; 14 July 1889 – 28 December 1959) was a Croatian politician who founded and headed the fascist ultranationalist organization known as the Ustaše in 1929 and served as dictator of the Independent State of Croatia ( hr, l ...
's
Ustaše The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian Fascism, fascist and ultranationalism, ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaš ...
were installed in power. Unlike Hitler, Pavelic was pro-Catholic, but their ideologies overlapped sufficiently for easy co-operation.Phayer, 2000, p. 32 The Vatican refused formal recognition of the new state, but sent a
Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...
abbot,
Giuseppe Ramiro Marcone Giuseppe Ramiro Marcone (1882, San Pietro Infine, Italy – 1952, Montevergine) was a Benedictine abbot. He was ordained in 1906 and appointed Abbot of Montevergine, Italy in 1918. He served an Apostolic Visitor to Croatia during World War II, in ...
, as apostolic visitor. Gilbert wrote, "In the Croatian capital of Zagreb, as a result of intervention by arconeon behalf of Jewish partners in mixed marriages, a thousand Croat Jews survived the war". While the Archbishop of Zagreb,
Aloysius Stepinac Aloysius Viktor Cardinal Stepinac ( hr, Alojzije Viktor Stepinac, 8 May 1898 – 10 February 1960) was a senior-ranking Yugoslav Croat prelate of the Catholic Church. A cardinal, Stepinac served as Archbishop of Zagreb from 1937 until his de ...
, who in 1941 welcomed Croat independence, "subsequently condemned Croat atrocities against both Serbs and Jews, and saved a group of Jews in an old age home". A number of Catholic Croat nationalists collaborated in the anti-Semitic policies of the regime. Pavelic told Nazi Foreign Minister Ribbentrop that, while the lower clergy supported the Ustase, the bishops, and particularly Stepinac, were opposed to the movement because of "Vatican international policy".Hebblethwaite, 1993, p.157 In the spring of 1942, following a meeting with Pius XII in Rome, Stepinac declared publicly that it was "forbidden to exterminate Gypsies and Jews because they are said to belong to an inferior race".Michael Phayer; ''The Catholic Church and the Holocaust 1930–1965''; Indiana University Press; 2000; p.38 The Apostolic delegate to Turkey,
Angelo Roncalli Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 19 ...
, saved a number of Croatian Jews - as well as Bulgarian and Hungarian Jews - by assisting their migration to Palestine. Roncalli succeeded Pius XII as Pope John XXIII, and always said that he had been acting on the orders of Pius XII in his actions to rescue Jews.Michael Phayer; ''The Catholic Church and the Holocaust: 1930–1965''; Indiana University Press; 2000; p86 ;Slovakia
Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
was a rump state formed by Hitler when Germany annexed the western half of Czechoslovakia. The small agricultural region had a predominantly Catholic population, and became a nominally independent state, with a Catholic priest,
Jozef Tiso Jozef Gašpar Tiso (; hu, Tiszó József; 13 October 1887 – 18 April 1947) was a Slovak politician and Roman Catholic priest who served as president of the Slovak Republic, a client state of Nazi Germany during World War II, from 1939 to 194 ...
as president and the extreme-nationalist
Vojtech Tuka Vojtech Lázar "Béla" Tuka (4 July 1880 – 20 August 1946) was a Slovak politician who served as prime minister and minister of Foreign Affairs of the First Slovak Republic between 1939 and 1945. Tuka was one of the main forces behind the depor ...
Tuka as Prime Minister.Evans, 2008, p. 395 Slovakia, under Tiso and Tuka had power over 90,000 Jews. Like the Nazis other main allies, Petain, Mussolini, and Horthy - Tiso did not share the racist hardline on Jews held by Hitler and radicals within his own government, but held a more traditional, conservative antisemitism. His regime was nonetheless highly antisemitic.
Giuseppe Burzio Giuseppe Burzio (1901-1966), born Cambiano, Italy, was a Vatican diplomat and Roman Catholic Archbishop. Ordained in 1924, he enrolled in the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy Class of 1926 and was commissioned into the diplomatic service of the H ...
, the Apostolic Delegate to Bratislava, protested against the anti-Semitic and totalitarianism of the Tiso regime. In February 1942, Tiso agreed to begin deportations of Jews and Slovakia became the first Nazi ally to agree to deportations under the framework of the
Final Solution The Final Solution (german: die Endlösung, ) or the Final Solution to the Jewish Question (german: Endlösung der Judenfrage, ) was a Nazi plan for the genocide of individuals they defined as Jews during World War II. The "Final Solution to th ...
. Later in 1942, amid Vatican protests as news of the fate of the deportees filtered back, and the German advance into Russia was halted, Slovakia became the first of Hitler's puppet states to shut down the deportations. Pope Pius XII protested the deportations of Slovakian Jews to the Bratislava government from 1942. Burzio also lobbied the Slovakian government directly. The Vatican called in the Slovak ambassador twice to enquire what was happening. These interventions, wrote Evans, "caused Tiso, who after all was still a priest in holy orders, to have second thoughts about the programme". Burzio and others reported to Tiso that the Germans were murdering the deported Jews. Tiso hesitated and then refused to deport Slovakia's 24,000 remaining Jews. When the transportation began again in 1943 Burzio challenged Prime Minister Tuka over the extermination of Slovak Jews. The Vatican condemned the renewal of the deportations on 5 May and the Slovakian episcopate issued a pastoral letter condemning totalitarianism and anti-Semitism on 8 May 1943. Pius protested that "The Holy See would fail in its Divine Mandate if it did not deplore these measures, which gravely damage man in his natural right, mainly for the reason that these people belong to a certain race."
Mark Mazower Mark Mazower (; born 20 February 1958) is a British historian. His expertise are Greece, the Balkans and, more generally, 20th-century Europe. He is Ira D. Wallach Professor of History at Columbia University in New York City Early life Mazowe ...
wrote: "When the Vatican protested, the government responded with defiance: 'There is no foreign intervention which would stop us on the road to the liberation of Slovakia from Jewry', insisted President Tiso".Mark Mazower; ''Hitler's Empire - Nazi Rule in Occupied Europe''; Penguin; 2008; ; p.396 Distressing scenes at railway yards of deportees being beaten by Hlinka guards had spurred community protest, including from leading churchmen such as Bishop Pavol Jantausch. According to Mazower "Church pressure and public anger resulted in perhaps 20,000 Jews being granted exemptions, effectively bringing the deportations there to an end". "Tuka", wrote Evans, was "forced to backtrack by public protests, especially from the Church, which by this time had been convinced of the fate that awaited the deportees. Pressure from the Germans, including a direct confrontation between Hitler and Tiso on 22 April 1943, remained without effect."Evans, 2008, p. 397 When in 1943 rumours of further deportations emerged, the Papal Nuncio in Istanbul, Msgr.
Angelo Roncalli Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 19 ...
(later Pope John XXIII) and Burzio helped galvanize the Holy See into intervening in vigorous terms. On April 7, 1943, Burzio challenged Tuka, over the extermination of Slovak Jews. The Vatican condemned the renewal of the deportations on 5 May and the Slovakian episcopate issued a pastoral letter condemning totalitarianism and antisemitism on 8 May 1943. Roncalli saved thousands of Slovakian Jews by signing visas for immigration to Palestine, crediting this work to the orders of Pope Pius XII. In August 1944, the
Slovak National Uprising The Slovak National Uprising ( sk, Slovenské národné povstanie, abbreviated SNP) was a military uprising organized by the Slovak resistance movement during World War II. This resistance movement was represented mainly by the members of the ...
rose against the People's Party regime. German troops were sent to quell the rebellion and with them came security police charged with rounding up Slovakia's remaining Jews. Burzio begged Tiso directly to at least spare Catholic Jews from transportation and delivered an admonition from the Pope: "the injustice wrought by his government is harmful to the prestige of his country and enemies will exploit it to discredit clergy and the Church the world over." ;Bulgaria Bulgaria signed a pact with Hitler in 1941 and reluctantly joined the Axis powers. Mgr
Angelo Roncalli Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 19 ...
- then Papal Nuncio in Turkey, later Pope John XXIII - was among those who lobbied King Boris for the protection of Jewish families. The King effectively thwarted Hitler's plans for the extermination of Bulgaria's Jews, and at war's end, Bulgaria had a larger Jewish population than it had had at the outset. In 1943, Pius instructed his Bulgarian representative to take "all necessary steps" to support Bulgarian Jews facing deportation and his Turkish nuncio,
Angelo Roncalli Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 19 ...
arranged for the transfer of thousands of children out of Bulgaria to Palestine. The
Bulgarian Orthodox Church The Bulgarian Orthodox Church ( bg, Българска православна църква, translit=Balgarska pravoslavna tsarkva), legally the Patriarchate of Bulgaria ( bg, Българска патриаршия, links=no, translit=Balgarsk ...
lobbied firmly against the deportations of Jews, and in March 1943, the King rescinded the order to deport them, and released Jews already in custody - an event known in Bulgaria as the "miracle of the Jewish people". ;Romania
Andrea Cassulo Andrea Cassulo (30 November 1869 – 9 January 1952) was an archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church and a representative of the Holy See in Egypt, Canada, Romania and Turkey from 1921 to 1952. Biography He was born in Castelletto d'Orba in 1869 and ...
served as Papal nuncio in Romania during the period of World War II. While the country was never occupied by
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, the regime of Marshall
Ion Antonescu Ion Antonescu (; ; – 1 June 1946) was a Romanian military officer and marshal who presided over two successive wartime dictatorships as Prime Minister and ''Conducător'' during most of World War II. A Romanian Army career officer who made ...
aligned itself with Hitler, and assisted the
Nazi Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ar ...
. Cassulo has been honoured as Righteous among the Nations by Yad Vashem. In his study of the rescuers of Jews, Gilbert wrote that, Cassulo "appealed directly to Marshall Antonescu to limit the deportations
f Jews to Nazi concentration camps F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''. His ...
planned for the summer of 1942. His appeal was ignored; hundreds of thousands of Romanian Jews were transported to Transnistria." Angelo Roncalli advised the Pope of Jewish concentration camps in Romanian occupied
Transnistria Transnistria, officially the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), is an unrecognised breakaway state that is internationally recognised as a part of Moldova. Transnistria controls most of the narrow strip of land between the Dniester riv ...
. The Pope protested to the Romanian government and authorised for funds to be sent to the camps. In 1944, the Chief Rabbi of Bucharest praised the work of Cassulo and the Pope on behalf of Romania's Jews: "the generous assistance of the Holy See ... was decisive and salutary. It is not easy for us to find the right words to express the warmth and consolation we experienced because of the concern of the supreme Pontiff, who offered a large sum to relieve the sufferings of deported Jews — sufferings which had been pointed out to him by you after your visit to Transnistria. The Jews of Romania will never forget these facts of historic importance." ;Italy Following the Nazi occupation of Italy, when news of the 15 October 1943 round-up of Roman Jews reached the Pope, he instructed Cardinal Maglione to protest to the German Ambassador to "save these innocent people". On 16 October, the Vatican secured the release of 252 children. ;Hungary Hungary joined the Axis Powers in 1940. Its leader,
Admiral Horthy Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...
later wavered in support for the Nazi alliance. The Nazis occupied Hungary in March 1944, soon after Horthy, under significant pressure from the church and diplomatic community, had halted the deportations of Hungarian Jews. In October, they installed a pro-Nazi Arrow Cross Dictatorship. In 1943, the Hungarian resistor,
Margit Slachta Margit Slachta (or ''Schlachta'', September 18, 1884 – January 6, 1974) was a Hungarian nun, social activist, politician, and member of parliament of the Kingdom of Hungary. In 1920 she was the first woman to be elected to the Diet of Hungary ...
, of the Hungarian Social Service Sisterhood, went to Rome to encourage papal action against the Jewish persecutions. In Hungary, she had sheltered the persecuted and protested forced labour and antisemitism. In 1944 Pius appealed directly to the Hungarian government to halt the deportation of the Jews of Hungary and his nuncio,
Angelo Rotta Angelo Rotta (9 August 1872 – 1 February 1965) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. As the Apostolic Nuncio in Budapest at the end of World War II, he was involved in the rescue of the Jews of Budapest from the Nazi Holocaust. He is ...
, led a citywide rescue scheme in Budapest. The Jews of the Hungarian provinces were decimated by the Nazis and their Fascist Hungarian allies, but many of the Jews of Budapest were saved by the extraordinary efforts of the diplomatic corps. Angelo Rotta, Papal Nuncio from 1930, actively protested Hungary's mistreatment of the Jews, and helped persuade Pope Pius XII to lobby the Hungarian leader Admiral Horthy to stop their deportation. Like the celebrated Swedish diplomat
Raoul Wallenberg Raoul Gustaf Wallenberg (4 August 1912 – disappeared 17 January 1945)He is presumed to have died in 1947, although the circumstances of his death are not clear and this date has been disputed. Some reports claim he was alive years later. 31 J ...
, Rotta became a leader of diplomatic actions to protect Hungarian Jews. With the help of the Hungarian Holy Cross Association, he issued protective passports for Jews and 15,000 safe conduct passes - the nunciature sheltered some 3000 Jews in safe houses. An "International Ghetto" was established, including more than 40 safe houses marked by the Vatican and other national emblems. 25,000 Jews found refuge in these safe houses. Elsewhere in the city, Catholic institutions hid several thousand more Jewish people. According to Gilbert, "With
Arrow Cross A cross whose arms end in arrowheads is called a "cross barby" or "cross barbée" in the traditional terminology of heraldry. In Christian use, the ends of this cross resemble the barbs of fish hooks, or fish spears. This alludes to the Ichth ...
members killing Jews in the streets of Budapest, Angelo Rotta, the senior Vatican representative in Budapest, took a lead in establishing an "International Ghetto", consisting of several dozen modern apartment buildings to which large numbers of Jews - eventually 25,000 - were brought and to which the Swiss, Swedish, Portuguese, and Spanish legations, as well as the Vatican, affixed their emblems." Rotta also got permission from the Vatican to begin issuing protective passes to Jewish converts - and was eventually able to distribute more than 15,000 such protective passes, while instructing the drafters of the documents not to examine the recipients credentials too closely. A Red Cross official asked Rotta for pre-signed blank identity papers, to offer to the sick and needy fleeing the Arrow Cross, and was given the documents, along with Rotta's blessing. Rotta encouraged Hungarian church leaders to help their "Jewish brothers", and directed Fr
Tibor Baranszky Tibor Baranski ( hu, Baránszki Tibor; June 11, 1922 – January 20, 2019) was a Hungarian-American man credited with saving more than 3,000 Hungarian Jewish women, men and children from the Nazis during the Holocaust. When he was 22, he was fo ...
to go to the forced marches and distribute letters of immunity to as many Jews as he could. Baranszky, was executive secretary of the Jewish Protection Movement of the Holy See in Hungary, and was also honoured by Yad Vashem as a Righteous Gentil for saving over 3,000 Jewish lives, acting on the orders of Pope Pius XII. On 15 November, the Hungarian Government established the "Big Ghetto" for 69,000, while a further 30,000 with protective documents went to the International Ghetto. On 19 November 1944, the Vatican joined the four other neutral powers - Sweden, Spain, Portugal and Switzerland - in a further collective protest to the Hungarian Government calling for the suspension of deportations. The government complied, and banned the "death marches" - but Budapest was by that stage near anarchy, and deportations continued from 21 November. The Arrow Cross continued their orgy of violence, raiding the international Ghetto and murdering Jews, as Soviet forces approached the city. Rotta and Wallenberg were among the few diplomats to remain in Budapest. Following the Soviet conquest of the city, Wallenberg was seized by the Russians and taken to Moscow, from where he was never released. Gilbert wrote that of the hundred and fifty thousand Jews who had been in Budapest when the Germans arrived in March 1944, almost 120,000 survived to liberation - 69,000 from the Big Ghetto, 25,000 in the International Ghetto and a further 25,000 hiding out in Christian homes and religious institutes across the city.


Assessments of Pius XII

According to Paul O'Shea, "The Nazis demonised the Pope as the agent of international Jewry; the Americans and British were continually frustrated because he would not condemn Nazi aggression; and the Russians accused him of being an agent of Fascism and the Nazis."
Pinchas Lapide Pinchas Lapide (28 November 1922 – 23 October 1997) was a Jewish theologian and Israeli historian. He was an Israeli diplomat from 1951 to 1969, among other position acting as Israeli Consul to Milan, and was instrumental in gaining recognit ...
, a Jewish theologian and
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
i diplomat to
Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
in the 1960s, estimated in '' Three Popes and the Jews'' that Pius "was instrumental in saving at least 700,000 but probably as many as 860,000 Jews from certain death at Nazi hands." Some historians, like Gilbert, have questioned this. Upon the death of Pius XII in 1958, the Israeli Foreign Minister
Golda Meir Golda Meir, ; ar, جولدا مائير, Jūldā Māʾīr., group=nb (born Golda Mabovitch; 3 May 1898 – 8 December 1978) was an Israeli politician, teacher, and ''kibbutznikit'' who served as the fourth prime minister of Israel from 1969 to 1 ...
said: "When fearful martyrdom came to our people in the decade of Nazi terror, the voice of the Pope was raised for the victims. The life of our times was enriched by a voice speaking out on the great moral truths above the tumult of daily conflict. We mourn a great servant of peace." Leading historian of the Holocaust, Sir
Martin Gilbert Sir Martin John Gilbert (25 October 1936 – 3 February 2015) was a British historian and honorary Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. He was the author of eighty-eight books, including works on Winston Churchill, the 20th century, and Jewish h ...
, has said that Pope Pius XII should be declared a "righteous gentile" by Yad Vashem. But his insistence on Vatican neutrality and avoidance of naming the Nazis as the evildoers of the conflict became the foundation for contemporary and later criticisms from some quarters. Hitler biographer John Toland, while scathing of Pius' cautious public comments in relation to the mistreatment of Jews, concluded that nevertheless, "The Church, under the Pope's guidance, had already saved the lives of more Jews than all other churches, religious institutions and rescue organizations combined...".John Toland; ''Hitler''; Wordsworth Editions; 1997 Edn; p. 760 In 1999, journalist John Cornwell's controversial book ''
Hitler's Pope ''Hitler's Pope'' is a book published in 1999 by the British journalist and author John Cornwell that examines the actions of Eugenio Pacelli, who became Pope Pius XII, before and during the Nazi era, and explores the charge that he assisted i ...
'' criticised Pius XII for his actions and inactions during the Holocaust. The Encyclopædia Britannica described Cornwell's depiction of Pius XII as anti-Semitic as lacking "credible substantiation". In specific riposte to Cornwell's moniker, American Rabbi and historian, David Dalin, published '' The Myth of Hitler's Pope: How Pope Pius XII Rescued Jews from the Nazis'' in 2005. He reaffirmed previous accounts of Pius having been a saviour of thousands of Europe's Jews. Dalin's book also argued that Cornwell and others were liberal Catholics and ex-Catholics who "exploit the tragedy of the Jewish people during the Holocaust to foster their own political agenda of forcing changes on the Catholic Church today" and that Pius XII was responsible for saving the lives of many thousands of Jews. Susan Zuccotti's '' Under His Very Windows: The Vatican and the Holocaust in Italy'' (2000) and
Michael Phayer Michael Phayer (born 1935) is an American historian and professor emeritus at Marquette University in Milwaukee and has written on 19th- and 20th-century European history and the Holocaust. Phayer received his PhD from the University of Munich i ...
's ''The Catholic Church and the Holocaust, 1930–1965'' (2000) and ''
Pius XII, The Holocaust, and the Cold War ''Pius XII, The Holocaust, and the Cold War'' is a 2008 book by historian Michael Phayer which makes use of documents that had been released under US President Bill Clinton's 1997 executive order declassifying wartime and postwar documents. Phayer ...
'' (2008) provided further critical, though more scholarly analysis of Pius's legacy.
Daniel Goldhagen Daniel Jonah Goldhagen (born June 30, 1959) is an American author, and former associate professor of government and social studies at Harvard University. Goldhagen reached international attention and broad criticism as the author of two controve ...
's ''A Moral Reckoning'' and David Kerzer's ''The Pope Against the Jews'' denounced Pius, while Ralph McInery and José Sanchez wrote more nuanced critical assessments of Pius XII's pontificate.''The Pope was wrong''
by Andrew Roberts;
The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...
; 16 July 2008
Gabriel Wilensky Gabriel Wilensky (born April 23, 1964) is an American author, software developer and entrepreneur. He was born in Uruguay, where his Eastern-European grandparents had emigrated to before the Second World War. He is the author of the book '' Six M ...
's '' Six Million Crucifixions: How Christian Teachings About Jews Paved the Road to the Holocaust'' (2010) was also very critical of both the wartime pope and the Catholic and Protestant churches for instilling in the minds of hundreds of millions of Christians the virulent antisemitism that eventually led to the paroxysm of murder that was the Holocaust. Wilensky holds the position that Pius XII should have spoken against the genocide of the Jews and he should have done "this everywhere, loudly and plainly, and he should have done it relentlessly and through every means of communication available to the Vatican." This sentiment was echoed by Konrad Adenauer, the Catholic mayor of Cologne, who said in a private letter after the war when he had become chancellor of Germany, “I believe that if all the bishops had together made public statements from the pulpits on a particular day, they could have prevented a great deal.” A number of other scholars replied with favourable accounts of the Pius XII, including
Margherita Marchione Sister Margherita Marchione (February 19, 1922 – May 20, 2021) was an American Roman Catholic sister, writer, teacher and apologeticist, who dedicated herself in her later years to the defense of Pope Pius XII. Early life Marchione was born in F ...
's ''Yours Is a Precious Witness: Memoirs of Jews and Catholics in Wartime Italy'' (1997), ''Pope Pius XII: Architect for Peace'' (2000) and ''Consensus and Controversy: Defending Pope Pius XII'' (2002);
Pierre Blet Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...
's ''Pius XII and the Second World War, According to the Archives of the Vatican'' (1999); and
Ronald J. Rychlak Ronald J. Rychlak is an American lawyer, jurist, author and political commentator. He is a Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Mississippi School of Law and is holder of the Jamie L. Whitten Chair in Law and Government. He is know ...
's ''Hitler, the War and the Pope'' (2000). Ecclesiastical historian William Doino (author of ''The Pius War: Responses to the Critics of Pius XII''), concluded that Pius was "emphatically ''not'' silent".


Episcopal protests

Various bishops protested the Nazi mistreatment of Jews.


The Netherlands

On July 11, 1942, the Dutch bishops, joined all Christian denominations in sending a letter to the Nazi General
Friedrich Christiansen Friedrich Christiansen (12 December 1879 – 3 December 1972) was a German general who served as commander of the German ''Wehrmacht'' in the occupied Netherlands during World War II. Christiansen was a World War I flying ace and the only seap ...
in protest against the treatment of Jews. The letter was read in all Catholic churches against German opposition. It brought attention to mistreatment of Jews and asked all Christians to pray for them: The protest angered the Nazi authorities and deportations of Jews only increased - including Catholic converts. Many Catholics were involved in strikes and protests against the treatment of Jews, and the Nazis offered to exempt converts and Jews married to non-Jews if protests ceased. The
Archbishop of Utrecht List of bishops and archbishops of the diocese and archdioceses of Utrecht. Medieval diocese from 695 to 1580 Founders of the Utrecht diocese * * * * * Bishops * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ...
and other Catholics refused to comply, and the Nazis commenced a round up of all ethnically Jewish Catholics. Some 40,000 Jews were hidden by the Dutch church and 49 priests killed in the process. Among the Catholics of the Netherlands abducted in this way was Saint
Edith Stein Edith Stein (religious name Saint Teresia Benedicta a Cruce ; also known as Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross or Saint Edith Stein; 12 October 1891 – 9 August 1942) was a German Jewish philosopher who converted to Christianity and became a ...
who died at Auchwitz.


France

The French bishops were initially cautious in speaking out against mistreatment of Jews.
Cardinal Gerlier Pierre-Marie Gerlier (14 January 1880 – 17 January 1965) was a French Cardinal (Catholicism), Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archdiocese of Lyon, Archbishop of Lyon from 1937 until his death, was Primate of Gaul and was ...
said that the treatment of the Jews was bad, but did not take effective action to pressure the Vichy Government.Lucien Steinberg
Jewish Rescue Operations in Belgium and France
published by
Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...
.
Following the ''Velodrom d'Hiver'' roundup of Jews of July 15, 1942, the Northern assembly of cardinals and archbishops sent a protest letter to Pétain. With the free press silenced, Charles Lederman, a Jewish Communist approached the
Archbishop of Toulouse The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toulouse (–Saint Bertrand de Comminges–Rieux) ( la, Archidioecesis Tolosana (–Convenarum–Rivensis); French: ''Archidiocèse de Toulouse (–Saint-Bertrand de Comminges–Rieux-Volvestre)''; Occitan: ''A ...
,
Jules-Géraud Saliège Jules-Géraud Saliège (24 February 1870 – 5 November 1956) was a French Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Toulouse from 1928 until his death, and was a significant figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism in F ...
, to alert public opinion to what was being done to the Jews. He told Saliège of the arrests, kidnappings and deportations. Saliège read his famous Pastoral letter the following Sunday. Other bishops - Monseigneur Théas,
Bishop of Montauban The Roman Catholic Diocese of Montauban (Latin: ''Dioecesis Montis Albani''; French: ''Diocèse de Montauban'') is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The diocese is coextensive with Tarn-et-Garonne, and is current ...
, ,
Bishop of Marseilles The Archdiocese of Marseille (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Massiliensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Marseille'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France.Cardinal Gerlier Pierre-Marie Gerlier (14 January 1880 – 17 January 1965) was a French Cardinal (Catholicism), Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archdiocese of Lyon, Archbishop of Lyon from 1937 until his death, was Primate of Gaul and was ...
,
Archbishop of Lyon The Archdiocese of Lyon (Latin: ''Archidiœcesis Lugdunensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Lyon''), formerly the Archdiocese of Lyon–Vienne–Embrun, is a Latin Church metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. The Archbishops ...
, Monseigneur Vansteenberghe of Bayonne and Monseigneur Moussaron,
Archbishop of Albi The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Albi (–Castres–Lavaur) (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Albiensis (–Castrensis–Vauriensis)''; French: ''Archidiocèse d'Albi (–Castres–Lavaur)''), usually referred to simply as the Archdiocese of Albi, is a ...
- also denounced the roundups from the pulpit and through parish distributions, in defiance of the Vichy regime. The protest of the bishops is seen by various historians as a turning point in the formerly passive response of the Catholic Church in France. Archbishop Saliège of Toulouse wrote to his parishioners: "The Jews are real men and women. Not everything is permitted against these men and women, against these fathers and mothers. They are part of the human species. They are our brothers like so many others. A Christian should not forget this". The words encouraged other clerics like the Capuchin monk
Père Marie-Benoît Père Marie-Benoît (Anglicized, Father Mary Benedict; in Italian, known as Padre Maria Benedetto; 30 March 1895 – 5 February 1990) was born Pierre Péteul. As a Capuchin Franciscan friar he helped smuggle approximately 4,000 Jews into safety ...
, who saved many Jews in Marseille and later in Rome where he became known among the Jewish community as "father of the Jews". Marie-Rose Gineste transported a pastoral letter from Bishop Théas of Montauban by bicycle to forty parishes, denouncing the uprooting of men and women "treated as wild animals", and the French Resistance smuggled the text to London, where it was broadcast to France by the BBC, reaching tens of thousands of homes.


Belgium

Cardinal van Roey, the head of the Catholic Church in Belgium intervened with the authorities to rescue Jews, and encouraged various institutions to aid Jewish children. One of his acts of rescue was to open a geriatric centre in which Jews were housed, at which kosher Jewish cooks would be required who could therefore be given special passes protecting them from deportation.


Croatia

In Croatia, the Vatican's apostolic visitor Giuseppe Marcone, together with Archbishop
Aloysius Stepinac Aloysius Viktor Cardinal Stepinac ( hr, Alojzije Viktor Stepinac, 8 May 1898 – 10 February 1960) was a senior-ranking Yugoslav Croat prelate of the Catholic Church. A cardinal, Stepinac served as Archbishop of Zagreb from 1937 until his de ...
of Zagreb pressured the Pavelić regime to cease its facilitation of race murders.Phayer p85 In the Spring of 1942, following a meeting with Pius XII in Rome, Archbishop
Aloysius Stepinac Aloysius Viktor Cardinal Stepinac ( hr, Alojzije Viktor Stepinac, 8 May 1898 – 10 February 1960) was a senior-ranking Yugoslav Croat prelate of the Catholic Church. A cardinal, Stepinac served as Archbishop of Zagreb from 1937 until his de ...
of Zagreb declared publicly that it was "forbidden to exterminate Gypsies and Jews because they are said to belong to an inferior race". In July and October 1943, Stepinac denounced race murders in the most explicit terms, and had his denunciation read from pulpits across Croatia. When
Schutzstaffel The ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS; also stylized as ''ᛋᛋ'' with Armanen runes; ; "Protection Squadron") was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe d ...
chief
Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...
visited Zagreb in 1943, indicating the impending roundup of remaining Jews, Stepinac wrote Pavelic that if this occurred, he would protest for "the Catholic Church is not afraid of any secular power, whatever it may be, when it has to protect basic human values". When deportatation began, Stepinac and Marcone protested to
Andrija Artukovic Andrija ( sr-cyr, Андрија, ) is the South Slavic variant of Greek ''Andreas'' (Andrew). It may refer to: *Andrija Stipanović, basketballer *Andrija Žižić (born 1980), Croatian basketballer *Andrija Kaluđerović (born 1987), Serbian foot ...
. According to Phayer, the Vatican ordered Stepinac to save as many Jews as possible during the upcoming roundup. Though Stepinac personally saved many potential victims, his protests had little effect on Pavelić.


Slovakia

Bishop Pavel Gojdic protested the persecution of Slovak Jews. Gojdic was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2001 and recognised as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in 2007.


Hungary

In Hungary, the Vatican and the Papal Nuncio
Angelo Rotta Angelo Rotta (9 August 1872 – 1 February 1965) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. As the Apostolic Nuncio in Budapest at the end of World War II, he was involved in the rescue of the Jews of Budapest from the Nazi Holocaust. He is ...
lobbied the Horthy government to protect the country's Jews, while leading church figures involved in the 1944 rescue of Hungarian Jews included Bishops
Vilmos Apor Vilmos Apor de Altorja (29 February 1892 – 2 April 1945) was a Hungarian Roman Catholic prelate, born as a baron in the noble Apor family, and served as a bishop during World War II. He became famous for protesting against the persecution of ...
, Endre Hamvas and
Áron Márton Áron Márton (28 August 1896 – 29 September 1980) was an ethnic Hungarian Roman Catholic prelate who served as the Bishop of Alba Iulia from his appointment in late 1938 until his resignation in 1980. Márton held the title of Archbishop af ...
. Primate
József Mindszenty József Mindszenty (; 29 March 18926 May 1975) was a Hungarian cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Esztergom and leader of the Catholic Church in Hungary from 1945 to 1973. According to the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', ...
issued public and private protests and was arrested on 27 October 1944. Following the October 1944 Arrow Cross takeover of Hungary, Bishop
Vilmos Apor Vilmos Apor de Altorja (29 February 1892 – 2 April 1945) was a Hungarian Roman Catholic prelate, born as a baron in the noble Apor family, and served as a bishop during World War II. He became famous for protesting against the persecution of ...
(who had been an active protester against the mistreatment of the Jews), together with other senior clergy including
József Mindszenty József Mindszenty (; 29 March 18926 May 1975) was a Hungarian cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Esztergom and leader of the Catholic Church in Hungary from 1945 to 1973. According to the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', ...
, drafted a memorandum of protest against the
Arrow Cross A cross whose arms end in arrowheads is called a "cross barby" or "cross barbée" in the traditional terminology of heraldry. In Christian use, the ends of this cross resemble the barbs of fish hooks, or fish spears. This alludes to the Ichth ...
government. Cardinal
Jusztinián György Serédi Jusztinián György Serédi Order of Saint Benedict, OSB (23 April 1884 – 29 March 1945) was a Cardinal (Catholicism), Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and Archdiocese of Esztergom, Archbishop of Esztergom and Primate (bishop), Prince Prim ...
also spoke out against the Nazi persecution.


Catholic networks

Direct action by Catholic institutions saved hundreds of thousands of Jews during the
Nazi Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ar ...
. Priests and nuns of orders like the Jesuits, Franciscans and Benedictines hid children in monasteries, convents and schools. In Poland, the unique Zegota organisation rescued thousands, while In France, Belgium, and Italy, underground networks run by Catholic clergy and lay people were particularly active and saved thousands of Jews - particularly in southern France, and in northern Italy.


Netherlands

During the
Nazi Occupation of the Netherlands Despite Dutch neutrality, Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940 as part of Fall Gelb (Case Yellow). On 15 May 1940, one day after the bombing of Rotterdam, the Dutch forces surrendered. The Dutch government and the royal family re ...
, when Jewish deportations began, many were hidden in Catholic areas. Parish priests created networks for hiding Jews, and close-knit country parishes were able to hide Jews without being informed upon by neighbours as occurred in the cities. Gilbert wrote, "as in every country under German occupation, so in Holland, local priests played a major part in rescuing Jews". Archbishop De Jong played a major role in the resistance against the Nazis. He kept address info on hidden Jewish children in the vaults of his palace. Also, the Catholic church protested regularly against the persecution of Jews in Holland. This sometimes led to persecution of converted Jews, such as Sister
Edith Stein Edith Stein (religious name Saint Teresia Benedicta a Cruce ; also known as Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross or Saint Edith Stein; 12 October 1891 – 9 August 1942) was a German Jewish philosopher who converted to Christianity and became a ...
. In the province of Limburg, 88 priests were deported and killed - more than from all the other Dutch provinces combined. Some priests were killed during their arrests, such as father in Den Bosch. The Dutch received the most recognitions per capita from Yad Vashem for saving Jews compared to all other occupied countries, namely some 5,900 out of a total of 26,000 (the Poles received a greater absolute number, at 6,200).


Belgium

Dislike of Germans and Nazism was strong in Belgium, and self-help by Jews was well organised. Following the occupation of Belgium, the Belgian Catholic Church played an important role in the defence of Jews. About 3000 Jews were hidden in Belgian convents during the Nazi occupation. 48 Belgian nuns have been honoured as Righteous among the Nations. Others so honoured include the Superior General of the Jesuits,
Jean-Baptiste Janssens Jean-Baptiste Janssens (22 December 1889 – 5 October 1964) was a Belgian Jesuit priest who was the 27th Superior General of the Society of Jesus. He was born in Mechelen, Belgium. Early life and schooling Janssens' first schooling was in ...
. Many Belgian convents and monasteries sheltered Jewish children, pretending that they were Christian - among them the Franciscan Sisters in Bruges, the Sisters of Don Bosco in Courtrai, the Sisters of St Mary near Brussels, the Dominican Sisters at Lubbeek, and others. Fr Joseph Andre of Namur found shelter for around 100 children in convents, returning them to Jewish community leaders after the war. Andre was very active in the rescue of Jews, handing over his own bed to Jewish refugees, and finding families to hide them, and distributing food as well as communications between families. He is credited with saving some 200 lives, and was forced into hiding in the final stages of the war. The Benedictine monk Dom Bruno (Henri Reynders) was active with the
Belgian Resistance The Belgian Resistance (french: Résistance belge, nl, Belgisch verzet) collectively refers to the resistance movements opposed to the German occupation of Belgium during World War II, German occupation of Belgium during World War II. Within Be ...
, and organised escape routes for downed allied pilots and for Belgian Jews. At Bruno's request, Jews were hidden in monasteries, schools, and the homes of Catholics. Bruno, who is credited with finding refuge for 320 Jewish children, was declared
Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sav ...
by Israel in 1964. Bruno developed a disdain for Nazi anti-Semitism when exposed to it on a 1938 visit to Germany. He was captured as a prisoner of war while serving as an army chaplain in 1940, and in 1942 was sent by the head of the Benedictines to a Home for the Blind, which operated as a front for hiding Jews. Assisted by Albert Van den Berg, Dom Bruno's rescue efforts grew from their initially small scale, eventually dispersing hundreds. Van den Berg secured refuge for the Grand Rabbi of Liege and his elderly parents at the Cappuchin Banneux home, where they were cared for by monks. Bruno rejoined the Belgian Army as a chaplain after Liberation. The Belgian Resistance viewed the defense of Jews as a central part of its activities. The
Comité de Défense des Juifs The Committee for the Defence of Jews (french: Comité de Défense des Juifs, or CDJ; nl, Joods Verdedigingscomiteit, JVD) was a group within the Belgian Resistance, affiliated to the Front de l'Indépendance, founded by the Jewish Communist Her ...
(CDJ) was formed to work for the defense of Jews in the summer of 1942, and of its eight founding members, seven were Jewish, and one, Emile Hambresin, was Catholic. Some of their rescue operations were overseen by the priests
Joseph André Joseph André (14 March 1908 – 1 June 1973) was a Catholic priest of the diocese of Namur, Belgium. He was declared Righteous among the Nations by the government of Israel in 1968. __NOTOC__ Early life After two years (1926–28) with the Je ...
and Dom Bruno. The CDJ enlisted the help of monasteries and religious schools and hospitals, among other institutions.
Yvonne Nèvejean Yvonne Feyerick Nèvejean (1900 - 1987) was one of the leaders of an organisation that helped hide Jewish children in Nazi-occupied Belgium during World War II. She was instrumental in hiding about 4000 children, many with Catholic families and ...
of the Oeuvre Nationale de l'Enfance greatly assisted with the hiding of Jewish children. According to Gilbert, over four and a half thousand Jewish children were given refuge in Christian families, convents, boarding schools, orphanages, and sanatoriums because of the efforts of Nèvejean. Among these children were the sisters (Rosa) Regina and (Stella) Estelle Feld of Antwerp. Their father, Abraham Feld, was arrested and sent directly to Auschwitz, where he was murdered and cremated immediately on arrival. Their mother, Leah (Leni) Schwimmerova Felt, placed her daughters in the care of nuns, who helped hide them for the entire course of the war, with farm families and in Catholic orphanages and schools. Leah was later arrested and taken to Auschwitz, where she too was murdered. After the war, the children were reunited with an uncle, Samuel Feld, who came from Scranton, PA to adopt them and bring them to the USA. The Queen Mother Elizabeth and of the Interior Ministry also took a stance to protect Jews. Fr. Hubert Célis of Halmaal was arrested for harbouring Jewish children, but was released after confronting his interrogator with the following words: "You are a Catholic, and have forgotten that the Virgin was a Jewess, that Christ was Jewish, that He commanded us to love and help one another... That He told us: 'I have given you an example so that you do as I have done'... You are a Catholic, and you do not understand what a priest is! You do not understand that a priest does not betray!".


Hungary

The Hungarian Regent,
Admiral Horthy Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...
, though allied to Hitler, did not adopt Nazi racial ideology, and Hungarian Jews were not subject to deportations to death camps through 1942-3. The Nazis occupied Hungary in 1944, and commenced widescale deportations of Jews. The process began with Jews sent to Ghettos, and though local leaders of the Catholic and Protestant Reform Churches tried to help the Jews, Jews from all across Hungary outside of Budapest were deported to Auchwitz. As rumour spread of the murder of the deportees, the Hungarian Ministry for the Interior criticised clergymen for issuing fake baptismal certificates. On June 26, 1944, confirmation of the mass murder at Auchwitz spurred the neutral powers in Budapest - including the Vatican - into action, seeking to thwart Nazi efforts to exterminate the Jews by issuing protective visas. The virulently anti-Semitic
Arrow Cross A cross whose arms end in arrowheads is called a "cross barby" or "cross barbée" in the traditional terminology of heraldry. In Christian use, the ends of this cross resemble the barbs of fish hooks, or fish spears. This alludes to the Ichth ...
seized power in October, and the murderous campaign against the Jews was re-opened. Papal Nunico
Angelo Rotta Angelo Rotta (9 August 1872 – 1 February 1965) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. As the Apostolic Nuncio in Budapest at the end of World War II, he was involved in the rescue of the Jews of Budapest from the Nazi Holocaust. He is ...
led the neutral diplomats in establishing an "international Ghetto" under their protection. Rotta also encouraged Hungarian church leaders to help their "Jewish brothers", and directed Fr
Tibor Baranszky Tibor Baranski ( hu, Baránszki Tibor; June 11, 1922 – January 20, 2019) was a Hungarian-American man credited with saving more than 3,000 Hungarian Jewish women, men and children from the Nazis during the Holocaust. When he was 22, he was fo ...
to go to the forced marches and distribute letters of immunity to as many Jews as he could. Local church men and women were also prominent in rescue efforts. Jesuit Prior Jakab Raile is credited with saving around 150 Jews in the Jesuit residence of the city.
Margit Slachta Margit Slachta (or ''Schlachta'', September 18, 1884 – January 6, 1974) was a Hungarian nun, social activist, politician, and member of parliament of the Kingdom of Hungary. In 1920 she was the first woman to be elected to the Diet of Hungary ...
, of the Hungarian Social Service Sisterhood, told the other Sisters that the precepts of their faith demanded that they protect the Jews, even if it led to their own deaths. Slachta responded immediately to reports in 1940 of early displacement of Jews. When 20,000 Jewish labourers were deported in 1941, Slachta protested to the wife of Admiral Horthy. Following the Nazi occupation, the Sisters of Social Service arranged baptisms in the hope it would spare people from deportation, sent food and supplies to the Jewish ghettos, and sheltered people in their convents. One of the Sisters, The Blessed
Sára Salkaházi Sára Salkaházi, SSS (born Sarolta Klotild Schalkház; 11 May 1899 – 27 December 1944) was a Hungarian Catholic religious sister who saved the lives of approximately one hundred Jews during World War II. Denounced and summarily executed by ...
, was among those captured sheltering the Jews, and executed. Slachta herself was beaten and only narrowly avoided execution. The Sisters rescued probably more than 2000 Hungarian Jews. In his study of the rescuers of the Jews, Martin Gilbert recounts that the monks of the Champagnat Institute of the Order of Mary in Budapest took in 100 children and 50 parents as boarders. When they were discovered, the Jews were killed, and six monks tortured but released. Similar numbers were protected and then discovered in the convents of the Sisters of the Divine Saviour and the Order of the Divine Love, with many of the Jews dragged out and murdered by the Arrow Cross. The prioress of the Sisters of the Eucharistic Union was captured and tortured for sheltering Jews in her hospital. Despite warnings, she resumed her rescue efforts in the apartment of the Prelate Arnold Pataky. Hundreds more Jews were saved at the Convent of the Good Shepherd, the home of the Sisters of Mercyof Szatmar and the Convent of Sacre Coeur.


Baltic States

In Lithuania, priests were active in the rescue of Jews, among them Fr Dambrauskas of
Alsėdžiai Alsėdžiai ( Samogitian: ''Alsiedē'', pl, Olsiady) is a small town in the Plungė district municipality. It is near the Sruoja River, from Plungė. Alsėdžiai is an administrative center of the Alsėdžiai eldership. Stanisław Narutowicz ...
(who acted against the wishes of his bishop), Bronius Paukštys of
Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...
, Fr Lapis from
Šiauliai Šiauliai (; bat-smg, Šiaulē; german: Schaulen, ) is the fourth largest city in Lithuania, with a population of 107,086. From 1994 to 2010 it was the capital of Šiauliai County. Names Šiauliai is referred to by various names in different l ...
and Fr Jonas Gylys of
Varėna Varėna (; pl, Orany; yi, אוראַן ''Oran'') is a city in Dzūkija, Lithuania. History The town was founded in 1862 near the Warsaw – Saint Petersburg Railway, south of Sena Varėna (Old Varėna). At that time it was a small settleme ...
, who delivered sermons against the killing of Jews, and sought to comfort Jews marked for murder. In Scandinavia, the Catholic presence was small, but here the Christian Churches firmly opposed the deportations of Jews -
Church of Norway The Church of Norway ( nb, Den norske kirke, nn, Den norske kyrkja, se, Norgga girku, sma, Nöörjen gærhkoe) is an evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. The church b ...
bishops gave stern warnings, and the Danish Churches published strong protests and urged their congregations to assist Jews. A unique operation in Denmark saw almost all of Denmark's Jews smuggled into Sweden and safety.


Poland and the ''Zegota'' Council to Aid Jews

Poland had the largest Jewish population in Europe before World War II. There were 3,500,000 Jews living in the Second Republic, about 10% of the general population. Between the
German invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week afte ...
in 1939, and the
end of World War II End of World War II can refer to: * End of World War II in Europe * End of World War II in Asia World War II officially ended in Asia on September 2, 1945, with the surrender of Japan on the . Before that, the United States dropped two atomic ...
, over 90% of Polish Jewry perished.
Nevertheless, more Jews were rescued by Catholics in Poland than in any other nation. According to Davies, the number of Jews saved by Poles is conservatively estimated at 100,000–150,000. The number of sheltered Jews according to
Lukas Lukas is a form of the Latin name Lucas. Popularity In 2013 it was the ninth most popular name for boys in Australia. Meaning and different spellings * Amharic - Luqas (ሉቃስ) * Arabic - Luqa (لوقا) / Luqas (لوكاس) * Armenian - Ղ ...
was "as high as 450,000" at one time. Professor
Tomasz Strzembosz Tomasz Strzembosz (11 September 1930 – 16 October 2004) was a Polish historian and writer who specialized in the World War II history of Poland. He was a professor at the Polish Academy of Sciences Institute of Political Studies, in Warsaw; an ...
put the total number of Catholic Poles saving Jews at 1 million. Among the
108 Martyrs of World War II The 108 Martyrs of World War II, known also as the 108 Blessed Polish Martyrs ( pl, 108 błogosławionych męczenników), were Roman Catholics from Poland killed during World War II by Nazi Germany. Their liturgical feast day is 12 June. The 108 ...
beatified in 1999 by
Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
,Terry Jones
Listing of the names of all 108 martyrs
beatified 13 June 1999 by Pope John Paul II at Warsaw, Poland; CatholicForum.com via Internet Archive.
prominent place belongs to religious people murdered by Nazi Germany for saving Jews. Several hundred Christian Poles were summarily shot in open pits for sheltering Jews in the vicinity of the
Słonim Ghetto The Słonim Ghetto ( pl, getto w Słonimiu, be, Слонімскае гета, german: Ghetto von Slonim, yi, סלאָנים) was a Nazi ghetto established in 1941 by the SS in Slonim, Western Belarus during World War II. Prior to 1939, the to ...
, along with their priest, . Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary were arrested and executed the following day for hiding Jewish children in their convent. , the superior of the convent, and , a doctor, were
beatified Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...
by
Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
together with priest Adam Sztark. They were killed at the same time. In 2001, Sztark became the first
Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...
ever awarded the title of
Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sav ...
by the state of Israel. He had delivered food to the ghetto, purchased with cash donations from his parishioners. He also issued false certificates, personally sheltered Jewish refugees, and called upon all his congregation to help to save the ghetto residents.Rafał Harlaf
Oświadczenie złożone w 1946 r. dla Żydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego
(Deposition from 1946 for the
Jewish Historical Institute The Jewish Historical Institute ( pl, Żydowski Instytut Historyczny or ''ŻIH''; yi, ייִדישער היסטאָרישער אינסטיטוט), also known as the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute, is a public cultural and research ...
, Warsaw). Info.Kalisz.pl via Internet Archive.
The memorial at Belzec death camp commemorates 600,000 murdered Jews, and 1,500 Poles who tried to save Jews. To date, Catholic Poles have been honoured as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem - constituting the largest national contingent.Davies (2003), ''Rising '44'', p. 594. Hundreds of clergymen and nuns were involved in aiding Poland's Jews during the war, though precise numbers are difficult to confirm. From 1941, such aid carried the death penalty. Up to 50,000 Poles were executed by Nazi Germany solely as penalty for saving Jews. Gilbert notes that, in relation to the development of Poland's Jewish rescue networks,
Yisrael Gutman Israel Gutman ( he, ישראל גוטמן; 20 May 1923 – 1 October 2013) was a Polish-born Israeli historian and a survivor of the Holocaust. Biography Israel (Yisrael) Gutman was born in Warsaw, Second Polish Republic. After participat ...
wrote that "One particular sector of the intelligentsia - comprising both men of progressive views and devout Catholics who worked with unrelenting devotion to rescue Jews - was of singular importance" and from these circles grew ''Zegota'', the Council for the Assistance to the Jews. A number of bishops provided aid to Polish Jews, notably Karol Niemira, the Bishop of Pinsk, who cooperated with the underground organization maintaining ties with the
Jewish Ghetto In the Jewish diaspora, a Jewish quarter (also known as jewry, ''juiverie'', ''Judengasse'', Jewynstreet, Jewtown, or proto-ghetto) is the area of a city traditionally inhabited by Jews. Jewish quarters, like the Jewish ghettos in Europe, were ...
and sheltered Jews in the Archbishop's residence.
Oskar Schindler Oskar Schindler (; 28 April 1908 – 9 October 1974) was a German industrialist, humanitarian and a member of the Nazi Party who is credited with saving the lives of 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his enamelware and amm ...
, a German Catholic businessman came to Poland, initially to profit from the
German invasion German invasion may refer to: Pre-1900s * German invasion of Hungary (1063) World War I * German invasion of Belgium (1914) * German invasion of Luxembourg (1914) World War II * Invasion of Poland * German invasion of Belgium (1940) * G ...
. He went on to save many Jews, as dramatised in the film ''
Schindler's List ''Schindler's List'' is a 1993 American epic historical drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and written by Steven Zaillian. It is based on the 1982 novel ''Schindler's Ark'' by Australian novelist Thomas Keneally. The film fo ...
''. Gilbert notes various Polish nuns honoured by Yad Vashem for sheltering Jews in their convents; the work of Polish priests in supplying fake baptismal certificates; and the work of parish priests, like the priest from Nowy Dwór who was tortured and beaten to death for protecting a Jewish girl, and Fr. Marceli Godlewski, who opened his crypt to Jews escaping the Ghetto. In Kolonia Wilenska, Sister Bertranda hid members of the Jewish underground in the Vilna ghetto.A litany of World War Two saints
Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Jerusalem Post''. In 2004, the paper w ...
; 11 April 2008.
The Jews of Warsaw, who prior to the war numbered some half a million people, were forced into the
Warsaw Ghetto The Warsaw Ghetto (german: Warschauer Ghetto, officially , "Jewish Residential District in Warsaw"; pl, getto warszawskie) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the G ...
in 1940. By November 1941, the Nazi governor of the city had decreed that the death penalty would be applied with utmost severity to those sheltering or aiding Jews in any way.
Matylda Getter Matylda Getter (1870–1968) was a Polish Catholic nun, mother provincial of CSFFM (lat. ''Congregatio Sororum Franciscalium Familiae Mariae'') - Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary in Warsaw and social worker in pre-war Poland. In German ...
, mother superior of the
Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary The Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary, ( pl, Zgromadzenie Sióstr Franciszkanek Rodziny Maryi; la, Congregatio Sororum Franciscalium Familiae Mariae), also known as ''Siostry Rodziny Maryi, RM'', is a Polish female religious institute.
took the decision to offer shelter to any Jewish children who could escape the Ghetto. Getter's convent was located at the entrance to the Ghetto. When the Nazis commenced the clearing of the Ghetto in 1941, Getter took in many orphans and dispersed them among Family of Mary homes. As the Nazis began sending orphans to the gas chambers, Getter issued fake baptismal certificates, providing the children with false identities. Living in daily fear of the Germans, the Family of Mary rescued more than 750 Jews.Michael Phayer; ''The Catholic Church and the Holocaust, 1930-1965''; Indiana University Press; p.117- When AK Home Army Intelligence discovered the true fate of transports leaving the Jewish Ghetto, the Council to Aid Jews - ''Rada Pomocy Żydom'' (codename '' Zegota'') was established in late 1942. The organisation, founded by the Catholic writer and activist,
Zofia Kossak-Szczucka Zofia Kossak-Szczucka ( (also Kossak-Szatkowska); 10 August 1889 – 9 April 1968) was a Polish writer and World War II resistance fighter. She co-founded two wartime Polish organizations: Front for the Rebirth of Poland and Żegota, set up t ...
and the socialist Wanda Filipowicz, ultimately saved thousands. Emphasis was placed on protecting children, as it was near impossible to intervene directly against the heavily guarded transports. False papers were prepared, and children were distributed among safe houses and church networks. Jewish children were often placed in church orphanages and convents. Poland was the only country in occupied Europe where such an organisation was established. Some of its members had been involved in Polish nationalist movements which were themselves anti-Jewish, but were appalled by the barbarity of the Nazi mass murders. In an emotive protest prior to the foundation of the Council, Kossak wrote that Hitler's race murders were a crime of which it was not possible to remain silent. While Polish Catholics might still feel Jews were "enemies of Poland", Kossak wrote that protest was required. Wladyslawa Choms, "The Angel of Lvov", headed ''Zegota'' in
Lvov Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in Western Ukraine, western Ukraine, and the List of cities in Ukraine, seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is o ...
, helped by the Church and the Home Army. She described the Catholic clergy, who supplied blank baptismal certificates from which to create false documents, as "invaluable" to the effort. Wladyslaw Bartoszewski (aka "Teofil"), a co-founder of Zegota, had worked with the Catholic underground movement, the ''Front for the Rebirth of Poland'', and was arrested in a 1940 Nazi purge of the intelligentsia and sent to Auchwitz. Freed seven months later following pressure from the international Red Cross, Bartoszewski helped Zegota in its rescue efforts. Explaining his motivation, he later said: "I was raised a Catholic and we were taught to love our neighbour. I was doing what the Bible taught." He was recognised as Righteous Among the Nations in 1963. As head of Zegota's children's section,
Irena Sendlerowa Irena Stanisława Sendler (), also referred to as Irena Polish name#Feminine forms, Sendlerowa in Poland, ''nom de guerre'' Jolanta (15 February 1910 – 12 May 2008), was a Polish humanitarian, social worker, and nurse who served in the ...
placed more than 2500 Jewish children in convents, orphanages, schools, hospitals and homes. She was captured by the Gestapo in 1943, and crippled by torture. In the 1948-9 Zegota Case, the Stalin-backed regime established in Poland after the war secretly tried and imprisoned the leading survivors of Zegota, as part of a campaign to eliminate and besmirch Catholic resistance heroes who might threaten the new regime. Bartoszewski was imprisoned until 1954.


France

As Gilbert wrote, "Many priests and nuns, and Catholic institutions throughout France did what they could to save Jews from deportation", and accordingly many French clergy and religious have been honoured by
Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...
. The first deportation of Jews from Paris occurred on 27 March 1942. Mostly Polish-born, they were taken to Auchwitz. Deportations continued through the following months, and intensified in August. Gilbert wrote: "Senior church figures took a leading role: just south of Lyons, Protestant and Catholic clerics, including
Cardinal Gerlier Pierre-Marie Gerlier (14 January 1880 – 17 January 1965) was a French Cardinal (Catholicism), Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archdiocese of Lyon, Archbishop of Lyon from 1937 until his death, was Primate of Gaul and was ...
, the Archbishop of Lyons, joined forces with Jewish resistance groups to ding hiding places for five hundred adults and more than a hundred children... Not only Cardinal Gerlier, but also his Secretary, Monsieigneur
Jean-Baptiste Maury Jean-Baptiste is a male French name, originating with Saint John the Baptist, and sometimes shortened to Baptiste. The name may refer to any of the following: Persons * Charles XIV John of Sweden, born Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, was King ...
... were honoured
y Yad Vashem Y, or y, is the twenty-fifth and penultimate letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. According to some authorities, it is the sixth (or sevent ...
for their acts of rescue." Thousands of priests, monks, nuns, and lay people performed acts of charity toward the persecuted Jews of France. On 28 August 1942, the Germans ordered the arrest of all Catholic priests sheltering Jews.
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
reported that Cardinal Gerlier had defiantly refused to surrender Jewish children being sheltered in Catholic homes, and that multiple arrests had been made, including of Jesuits who had been sheltering hundreds of children. The Vatican denounced the treatment of Jews in France to the Vichy French ambassador to the Holy See. Monsignor
Gabriel Piguet Gabriel Piguet (born 24 Feb 1887 at Mâcon, died 3 July 1952 at Clermont-Ferrand) was the Roman Catholic Bishop of Clermont-Ferrand, France. Involved in Catholic resistance to Nazism, he was imprisoned in the Priest Barracks of Dachau Concentra ...
, the
Bishop of Clermont-Ferrand The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Clermont (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Claromontana''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Clermont'') is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The diocese comprises the department of Puy-d ...
, allowed Jewish children to be hidden from the Nazis at the Saint Marguerite Catholic boarding school in Clermont-Ferrand and was arrested in his Cathedral on 28 May 1944. He was deported to
Dachau Concentration Camp , , commandant = List of commandants , known for = , location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany , built by = Germany , operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) , original use = Political prison , construction ...
in September. At Dachau, Piguet presided over the secret ordination of The Blessed
Karl Leisner Karl Leisner (28 February 1915 in Rees – 12 August 1945 in Planegg, Germany) was a Roman Catholic priest interned in the Dachau concentration camp. He died of tuberculosis shortly after being liberated by the Allied forces. He has been ...
. Two-thirds of the 300,000 Jews living in France at the outbreak of war survived the Nazi holocaust. Thousands of priests, nuns and lay people acted to assist French Jews. The majority of French Jews survived the occupation, in large part thanks to the help received from Catholics and Protestants, who protected them in convents, boarding schools, presbyteries and families. The ''Amitiés Chrétiennes'' organisation operated out of Lyon to secure hiding places for Jewish children. Among its members were the Jesuit
Pierre Chaillet Pierre Chaillet (1900–1972) was a French Catholic priest of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), who was recognised as Righteous among the Nations by Yad Vashem for his work to protect Jews from the Nazi Holocaust. The influential French theologian
Henri de Lubac Henri-Marie Joseph Sonier de Lubac (; 20 February 1896 – 4 September 1991), better known as Henri de Lubac, was a French Jesuit priest and cardinal who is considered one of the most influential theologians of the 20th century. His writin ...
was active in the resistance to Nazism and to antisemitism. He assisted in the publication of ''Témoinage chrétien'' with Pierre Chaillet. He responded to Neo-paganism and antisemitism with clarity, describing the notion of an Aryan New Testament standing in contradiction to a Semitic Old Testament as "blasphemy" and "stupidity". In 1988, Lubac returned to writing about the era in ''Résistance chrétienne à l'antisémitisme, souvenirs 1940-1944'' (Christian Resistance to Antisemitism: Memories from 1940-1944) Mothers Superior of many convents provided safe haven to French Jews.
Agnes Walsh Agnes Walsh (born 1950) is a Canadian poet, playwright, actor and storyteller from Newfoundland and Labrador. Born in Placentia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Walsh has won Newfoundland and Labrador Arts and Letters awards for poetry as well as Tic ...
, a British Daughter of Charity who spent the war in occupied France, was recognised as
Righteous among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sav ...
for her sheltering of a Jewish family in her convent from 1943. The Archbishop of Nice,
Paul Remond Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...
, facilitated underground activities hiding Jewish children in convents till they could be given safely to Christian families. The Carmelite monk,
Lucien Bunel Lucien is a male given name. It is the French form of Luciano or Latin ''Lucianus'', patronymic of Lucius. Lucien, Saint Lucien, or Saint-Lucien may also refer to: People Given name * Lucien of Beauvais, Christian saint *Lucien, a band member ...
(Jacques de Jesus), was sent to the
Mauthausen Death Camp Mauthausen was a Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen, Upper Austria, Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with List of subcamps of Mauthausen, nearly 100 further ...
for sheltering three Jewish boys at his school (dramatised in the 1987 film ''
Au revoir les enfants ''Au revoir les enfants'' (, meaning "Goodbye, Children") is an autobiographical 1987 film written, produced and directed by Louis Malle. It is based on the actions of Père Jacques, a French priest and headmaster who attempted to shelter Jewish ...
'', made by
Louis Malle Louis Marie Malle (; 30 October 1932 – 23 November 1995) was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in both Cinema of France, French cinema and Cinema of the United States, Hollywood. Described as "eclectic" and "a fi ...
, one of his former pupils). Bunel had opened his church to refugees fleeing Nazi persecution and hired a Jewish teacher fired under discriminatory laws. He died of exhaustion days after Liberation. Although Bunel was able to inform his senior students of the Jewish identity of the boys and the secret was kept, a former pupil who had joined the resistance revealed under torture that it was Bunel who had put him in contact with the resistance. On the Swiss border, various priests and parishes helped Jews escape to safety. Raymond Boccard and other priests assisted hundreds of refugees, including many Jews, across the border into Switzerland. Abbé Simon Gallay hid Jews at Evian-les-Bains, and assisted passage to Switzerland, until arrested and deported to Germany, never to return.


Italy

Despite the Italian Dictator Mussolini's close alliance with Hitler's Germany, Italy did not adopt Nazism's genocidal ideology towards the Jews. The Nazis were frustrated by the Italian forces' refusal to co-operate in the round-ups of Jews, and no Jews were deported from Italy prior to the Italian capitulation and Nazi occupation of the country in 1943. In Italian-occupied Croatia, Nazi envoy
Siegfried Kasche Siegfried Kasche (18 June 1903 – 7 June 1947) was an ambassador of the German Reich to the Independent State of Croatia and ''Obergruppenführer'' of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA), a paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. Kasche was the proposed ru ...
advised Berlin that Italian forces had "apparently been influenced" by Vatican opposition to German anti-Semitism.Martin Gilbert; The Holocaust: The Jewish Tragedy; Collins; London; 1986; p.466 As anti-Axis feeling grew in Italy, the use of
Vatican Radio Vatican Radio ( it, Radio Vaticana; la, Statio Radiophonica Vaticana) is the official broadcasting service of Vatican City. Established in 1931 by Guglielmo Marconi, today its programs are offered in 47 languages, and are sent out on short wave, ...
to broadcast papal disapproval of race murder and anti-Semitism angered the Nazis. Mussolini was overthrown in July 1943, and the Nazis moved to occupy Italy and commenced a round-up of Jews. Though thousands were caught, the great majority of Italy's Jews were saved. As in other nations, Catholic networks were heavily engaged in rescue efforts. According to
Martin Gilbert Sir Martin John Gilbert (25 October 1936 – 3 February 2015) was a British historian and honorary Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. He was the author of eighty-eight books, including works on Winston Churchill, the 20th century, and Jewish h ...
, the Pope had helped the Jews of Rome in September 1943, by offering whatever amounts of gold might be needed towards the 50 kg ransom demanded by the Nazis. At the same time, wrote Gilbert, the Capuchin Father Benoit had saved large numbers of Jews by providing them with false identification papers, helped by the Swiss, Hungarian, Rumanian and French embassies, and a number of Italian officials. A few days before the October 15/16 roundup, Pius XII personally directed Vatican clergy to open the sanctuaries of the Vatican to all "non-Aryans" in need of refuge. 4715 of the 5715 Roman Jews listed for deportation by the Nazis were sheltered in 150 institutions - 477 in the Vatican itself. As German round-ups continued in Northern Italy, the Pope opened his summer residence,
Castel Gandolfo Castel Gandolfo (, , ; la, Castrum Gandulphi), colloquially just Castello in the Castelli Romani dialects, is a town located southeast of Rome in the Lazio region of Italy. Occupying a height on the Alban Hills overlooking Lake Albano, Castel Ga ...
, to take in thousands of Jews and authorised institutions across the north to do the same. Gilbert wrote that, in October 1943, with the SS occupying Rome and determined to deport the city's 5000 Jews, the Vatican clergy had opened the sanctuaries of the Vatican to all "non-Aryans" in need of rescue in an attempt to forestall the deportation. "Catholic clergy in the city acted with alacrity", wrote Gilbert. "At the Capuchin convent on the Via Siciliano, Father Benoit, under the name of Father Benedetti, saved a large numbers of Jews by providing them with false identification papers ..by the morning of October 16, a total of 4,238 Jews had been given sanctuary in the many monasteries and convents of Rome. A further 477 Jews had been given shelter in the Vatican and its enclaves." Gilbert credited the "rapid rescue efforts" of the Church as saving over four-fifths of Roman Jews that morning. Il
Collegio San Giuseppe - Istituto De Merode The Collegio S. Giuseppe-Istituto de Mérode is a Catholic school of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. It is located in Rome, Italy, in via San Sebastianello 1, at the corner of Piazza di Spagna, in the rione Campo Marzio. It comprises two b ...
, like other Roman Catholic schools, hid numerous Jewish children and adults among its students and Brothers. From his Vatican office, and in co-operation with Pius XII, Monsignor
Hugh O'Flaherty Hugh O'Flaherty (28 February 1898 – 30 October 1963), was an Irish Catholic priest and senior official of the Roman Curia, and a significant figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism. During World War II, O'Flaherty was responsible for savi ...
, an Irishman, operated an escape operation for Jews and Allied escapees. The
Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper and online publication which is owned by Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of Mediahuis. The newspaper version often includes glossy magazines. Traditionally a broadsheet new ...
credited him with having saved more than 6,500 people during the war. From 1943, he began to offer shelter to allied servicemen seeking sanctuary in the Vatican. Using fake documents and a clandestine communications network, O'Flaherty defied the Gestapo's war criminal commander of Rome,
Herbert Kappler Herbert Kappler (23 September 1907 – 9 February 1978) was a key German SS functionary and war criminal during the Nazi era. He served as head of German police and security services (''Sicherheitspolizei'' and SD) in Rome during the Second W ...
, and evaded capture through the German occupation of Rome. O'Flaherty's '"Rome Escape Line" hid British and American soldiers and Jews in safe houses around the city. Kappler had a white line drawn around the boundary of the Vatican and offered a bounty on O'Flaherty's head. O'Flaherty forgave Kappler after the war, and became a regular visitor to his prison cell - eventually presiding at his conversion to Catholicism. O'Flaherty's story was dramatised in the 1983 film '' The Scarlet and the Black'', and Ireland honours his work with the Hugh O'Flaherty International Humanitarian Award. Swedish-born
Elisabeth Hesselblad Maria Elizabeth Hesselblad, OSsS (4 June 1870 – 24 April 1957), was a Swedish religious sister who founded a new, active, branch of the Bridgettine order in the Roman Catholic Church, known as the "Bridgettine Sisters". Hesselblad is recognis ...
was listed among the " Righteous" by
Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...
for her religious institute's work assisting Jews. She and two British women, Mother Riccarda Beauchamp Hambrough and Sister Katherine Flanagan, have been beatified for reviving the Swedish Bridgettine Order of nuns and hiding scores of Jewish families in their convent during Rome's period of occupation under the Nazis. The churches, monasteries and convents of Assisi formed the
Assisi Network The Assisi Network was an underground network in Italy established by Catholic clergy to protect Jews during the Nazi Occupation. The churches, monasteries, and convents of Assisi served as a safe haven for several hundred Jews. General Histor ...
and served as a safe haven for Jews. Gilbert credits the network, established by Bishop
Giuseppe Placido Nicolini Monsignor Giuseppe Placido Maria Nicolini O.S.B. (1877–1973), born Villazzano, Italy, was the Roman Catholic Bishop of Assisi from 1928 until 1973. Prior to serving as Bishop, he was ordained as a Benedictine priest in 1899 and was appointed ...
and Abbott
Rufino Niccaci Rufino may refer to: *Rufino (given name) *Rufino Family, Filipino family *Rufinus of Assisi, Italian saint sometimes known as Rufino *Rufino, Santa Fe, Argentina *Rufino Plaza, Tallest skyscraper in the Philippines See also *Ruffino Ruffin ...
of the Franciscan Monastery, with saving 300 people. When the Nazis began rounding up Jews, Monsignor Nicolini,
Bishop of Assisi The Italian Catholic Diocese of Assisi-Nocera Umbra-Gualdo Tadino ( la, Dioecesis Assisiensis-Nucerina-Tadinensis) in Umbria, has existed since 1986. In that year the historic Diocese of Assisi, known as the birthplace of Francis of Assisi, was ...
, ordered Father Aldo Brunacci to lead a rescue operation, arranging sheltering places in 26 monasteries and convents and providing false papers for transit. Respect for Jewish religious practices saw
Yom Kippur Yom Kippur (; he, יוֹם כִּפּוּר, , , ) is the holiest day in Judaism and Samaritanism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, the first month of the Hebrew calendar. Primarily centered on atonement and repentance, the day's ...
celebrated at Assisi in 1943, with nuns preparing the meal to end the fast. Other Italian clerics honoured by
Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...
include the theology professor Fr
Giuseppe Girotti Giuseppe Girotti (19 July 1905 – 1 April 1945) was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member from the Order of Preachers. He served as a biblical scholar on both the Book of Wisdom and the Book of Isaiah and served as a profess ...
of Dominican Seminary of Turin, who saved many Jews before being arrested and sent to Dacau, where he died in 1945; Fr Arrigo Beccari, who protected around 100 Jewish children in his seminary and among local farmers in the village of Nonantola in Central Italy; and Don Gaetano Tantalo, a parish priest who sheltered a large Jewish family. Of Italy's 44,500 Jews, some 7,680 were murdered in the Nazi Holocaust.


See also

*
Catholic resistance to Nazism Catholic resistance to Nazi Germany was a component of German resistance to Nazism and of Resistance during World War II. The role of the Catholic Church during the Nazi years remains a matter of much contention. From the outset of Nazi rule in ...
*
Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust The papacy of Pius XII (Eugenio Pacelli) began on 2 March 1939 and continued to 9 October 1958, covering the period of the Second World War and the Holocaust, during which millions of Jews and others were murdered by Adolf Hitler's Germany. Bef ...
*
Pope Pius XII and the German Resistance During the Second World War, Pope Pius XII maintained links to the German resistance to Nazism against Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime. Although remaining publicly neutral, Pius advised the British in 1940 of the readiness of certain German generals to ...
*
List of individuals and groups assisting Jews during the Holocaust During World War II, some individuals and groups helped Jews and others escape the Holocaust conducted by Nazi Germany. Since 1953, Israel's Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, has recognized 26,973 persons as Righteous among the Nations. Yad Vashe ...
*
Rescue of Jews by Poles during the Holocaust Polish Jews were the primary victims of the German-organized Holocaust in Poland. Throughout the German occupation of Poland, many Poles rescued Jews from the Holocaust, in the process risking their lives – and the lives of their families. Po ...
*
Catholic Church and Nazi Germany Popes Pius XI (1922–1939) and Pius XII (1939–1958) led the Catholic Church during the rise and fall of Nazi Germany. Around a third of Germans were Catholic in the 1930s, most of them lived in Southern Germany; Protestants dominated the no ...
*
Catholic Church and Nazi Germany during World War II Several Catholic countries and populations fell under Nazi domination during the period of the Second World War (1939–1945), and ordinary Catholics fought on both sides of the conflict. Despite efforts to protect its rights within Germany und ...
*
Catholic clergy involvement with the Ustaše Catholic clergy involvement with the Ustaše covers the role of the Croatian Catholic Church in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a Nazi puppet state created on the territory of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia in 1941. Background For centu ...
*
Nazi persecution of the Catholic Church The Roman Catholic Church suffered persecution in Nazi Germany. The Nazis claimed jurisdiction over all collective and social activity. Clergy were watched closely, and frequently denounced, arrested and sent to Nazi concentration camps. Welfare ...


References


Sources

* * * {{refend


External links


Resisting on the Basis of Catholic Beliefs
The German Resistance Memorial Centre.
Encyclopædia Britannica - Reflections on the Holocaust: Pius XII

The Record of Pius XII's Opposition to Hitler
published by CatholicCulture.Org

published by Catholic Education Resource Centre.

published by Catholic Education Resource Centre
The Record of Pius XII's Opposition to Hitler
published by CatholicCulture.org
''The Myth of Hitler's Pope: How Pope Pius XII Rescued Jews from the Nazis''
a talk by Rabbi David Dalin on YouTube.
The Rescue of Jewish Children in Polish Convents During the Holocaust
Nahum Bogner;
Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...
. Catholic Righteous Among the Nations Catholic resistance to Nazi Germany The Holocaust Rescue of Jews during the Holocaust Christianity and Judaism